Ties
by LitaFanForLife
Summary: Does Katherine really hate Elena? Did she come back for Stefan? How strong is Stefan/Elena's love? Elena's safety brings people together. Relationships develop, die and are rekindled. Lots of Bonnie/Damon/Jeremy/Caroline/Tyler throughout/at certain parts.
1. Chapter 1

**o-0-o This started as a one-shot with Elena and Katherine because I always thought there was more to be told about them and what Katherine really feels in regards to her. I never quite bought that she could only just hate her, they are technically family after all, and that's where the idea for what's now this first chapter came from. Because of the positive feedback, I finally got around to continuing it. Elena and Katherine, in one way or another are very important and connected to pretty much everyone on the show and that, in addition to the fact that I will explore the bond that does exist between Katherine and Elena more in this continued version of my one-shot, is why I'm still keeping them as the two characters in the story's description on the main Vampire Diaries FF page. I decided to build on Katherine and Elena, but also in the coming chapters, some sooner than later, you will see A LOT of Stefan, Bonnie, Damon and Caroline. There will also be a fair amount of Jeremy and Tyler and a character or two that I imagined up. Luka and Elijah will make some appearances and you'll see John and Isobel more than a little. Alaric and Jenna will pop up too, and the awesome Lexi and Shiela "Grams" Bennett will get some mentions. Liz Forbes, Bonnie's dad and cousin Lucy pop up, and so does Luka's dad.**

**This story is not just about Elena and Katherine at all, but there are so many relationships and bonds that are born out of a relationship or love of one or the other, or both of these girls. It's not only about the ties that exist between Elena and Katherine It's about the ties that bind everyone. This is a story about family, friendship, love and loyalty.**

**I have 4 main ships on the show, but I think you'll find some moments to love for all the pairs that are out there that people ship (at least the ones I'm aware of) even though I personally do not ship them all. I did not go a romantic route for all of these pairs but I've tried to create some nice moments for everyone all the same. If you love Stelena, Steferine, Bamon, Forwood, Delena, Matt/Caroline, Beremy, Bonnie/Tyler, Stefan and Lexi, Damon and Katherine, Stefan and Caroline, Stefan and Bonnie, John and Isobel, Bonnie and Luka, Caroline and Damon, Isobel and Alaric, and Alaric and Jenna I think I'll be able to make you smile at least once before this story is finished**

**If you're like me and love the friendship between Elena, Bonnie, and Caroline, you'll have a lot that will hopefully make you happy.**

**This first chapter takes place a couple days after the events from the episode "Katerina". And now I think this intro bit is done. Time for the story. I really hope you'll enjoy it (and continue to enjoy it for those who already read it as a one-shot). Leave me reviews as you read and let me know what you think. I love hearing from the readers o-0-o**

**Hope you'll like it! Review and let me know what you think o-0-o**

"I've walked the earth for more than 500 years. And in that time I've loved three people, really loved, three people. It's not a lot, but don't ever tell me that I have never loved. When I love, I love with everything I've got. Yeah, I'm evil and selfish and a bitch- all true for the most part, minus those three people. Funnily enough, _you_ are connected to every single one of them."

"Tell me Katherine, who did you love? Or who _do_ you love and do you hate me?" Elena asked. "You might as well tell me the truth, because I'm gonna end up dead pretty soon and maybe you too, if Klaus really is on his way," Elena said, shoving some blood at Katherine.

Katherine just looked at Elena for a moment, considering not answering just to annoy her, but she decided against it. She could answer one question.

"I love my mother, my daughter and Stefan. And yes it is _love _and not loved, because I still feel it."

"Do you hate me?" Elena asked again, truly wanting to hear an answer. She'd been wondering this for quite awhile.

"You not only look like me, but my blood runs in your veins. I'm not a stupid woman, and as annoying as you are, you aren't stupid either, so don't act like it. Go away Elena. You should start running. Klaus will probably find you, but running at least gives you some time," Katherine said, not answering her question.

"Do you hate me?' she repeated.

"Wouldn't you like to know?" she grinned.

"Do you really want me to die?" Elena asked, wanting answers so badly.

"How's Stefan?" Katherine asked, not answering yet another question.

"You do love him, don't you? In your own way, you really do love him."

"Ding, ding, ding. Correct," Katherine answered flippantly... "What's _not _to love about him?" she said, closing her eyes, taking herself back to a different time.

"You messed him up, you know that?" Elena said. "He doesn't believe that you loved him and I think that sometimes carries over to me."

Katherine raised an eyebrow.

"Sometimes I think he really wonders if I love him and sometimes he thinks that I want Damon, which I don't. I think it all goes back to you. I _know _ he loves me and I know he wants to be with me, but I really wonder sometimes if he's completely let you go... And you, why _did _you let him go? Why did you leave him? Why didn't you take him when you ran all those years ago?"

"I _never _ let him go. I checked on him plenty throughout the years and I always wanted to see him again one day. But I left without him _because _ I loved him. If I didn't give a crap, I would have grabbed him from the cold, hard ground and put him in that carriage with me instead of kissing him goodbye and telling him I loved him and promising that we'd be together again one day, some day," Katherine said, turning away from Elena for a moment.

"If Klaus did find me and I had Stefan with me, he would have been a goner too, and I never wanted that. I'd never allow that. There was something comforting about the thought that even if that bastard did find me and kill me, that Stefan would still be out there, alive or, I guess existing, and well."

"What about Damon then, why didn't you take him with you. He would have been company," Elena asked.

"I wasn't in love with Damon, but I did care about him. I didn't want anything to happen to him either, but I didn't take him, also, because of Stefan. And while I had my fun for awhile playing around, I shouldn't have pit them against each other. Those two loved each other then, and they still do now, it's just harder to see. I knew Stefan would grieve my loss and it would be cruel to take away his brother too. And believe whatever you want, but I don't have cruelty in my heart where Stefan is concerned. I don't want him to suffer."

"I believe you loved him, hell, I even believe you love him now, but how can you say you don't have cruelty in your heart for him after everything you've done so far, after making my aunt nearly kill herself. You had to know that after that, I'd finally take your damn warning about me and him not being together seriously, that I'd end things with him. How can you say you had no cruelty in your heart for him? When I went to end things with him, he was crushed. He was devastated. He was destroyed. If you would have seen him, even _you_ would have cried. Why would you want him to be sad like that, even if you hated us being together?"

"Sometimes you have to be cruel to be kind," Katherine said.

"Seriously? That's your answer?" Elena asked.

"Let's get something clear. I want him back. Stefan is _mine_. I had him first, I _made_ him. All those years ago, I fell for him. I fell hard and it freaked me out. I wasn't supposed to fall for him," Katherine stopped for a moment, turning away again. "But he made me care, he made me love him. He was the sweetest and kindest guy ever and it wasn't bullshit, it was genuine. I wasn't used to that. The things he would say and the way his face would just light up when I walked in the room... I _hate _that he's with you, for more than one reason, and you can believe whatever you want, but I hate seeing him sad, I hate seeing him down. Getting you two to break up served more than one purpose- it got you the hell away from him, which was for me, but the main reason was for him. If you two would break up, I thought maybe his feelings for you would start to lessen, maybe it would kill him a little less when Klaus eventually came for you and murdered you," Katherine said simply.

"Oh," was all Elena could say.

"Oh indeed," Katherine said with a tired laugh.

Elena knew she wouldn't get any more out of Katherine about Stefan, but she wasn't done with her yet. She had so many questions for this woman.

"What am I to you, technically?" Elena asked. "Give me that at least."

"What the hell, why not," Katherine said, indulging her. "I'm telling you now, you're going to hear a lot of the word daughter."

"Tell me."

"You're my daughter's, daughter's, daughter's, daughter's, daughter's, daughter's, daughter's, daughter's, daughter's, daughter's, daughter's, daughter's, daughter's, daughter's, daughter's, daughter's, daughter's, daughter's, daughter's, daughter's, daughter's, daughter's, daughter's, daughter's, daughter's daughter's daughter," Katherine said.

"You didn't even have to think about that, that's pretty impressive," Elena said, a little bit in awe at how she didn't even have to think about it to make sure she had gotten it right.

"I know my bloodline, what can I say?" Katherine mumbled.

"Have you seen all of them, I mean, at one point or another?" Elena asked. She didn't know why, but she wanted to know this woman, she wanted to know more about herself.

"Yep."

"When did you find out about me?" Elena asked her.

"You're annoying me," Katherine said.

"That's nice, I don't care," Elena said. "I'll be dead soon enough and you don't give a crap, which is fine, but you owe me information."

Katherine took a long look at Elena and then shook her head as if she was trying to get something out of her mind. "I saw you the day you were born," was all Katherine said.

"My mother- Isobel, did she _ever _love me?" Elena asked, her eyes suddenly watering.

She felt pathetic. She hated this. She didn't know why, but she wanted this woman to talk to her so badly. Without this woman, she wouldn't even be here. Elena hated her for all that she had done, but right now, at what seemed to be very close to the end for Elena, all she wanted to do was talk to this woman, know about her, and learn about herself. The parents she was raised with were wonderful, and she loved them, but she needed to know where she really came from. Elena knew enough about her Gilbert side, but she wanted to know about her mother's side. Felt like she needed to. She needed to know who she was completely before she died.

She needed to know this woman in front of her, and her mother to know who she was. She needed to know the woman who caused the rift between the love of her life and his brother. She needed to know the woman who Stefan had loved, the woman who still loved him. She needed to know the woman who wanted to ruin her happiness with him.

She wanted to know this woman, needed to, because no matter what kind of anger and resentment she had for Katherine, this woman, indirectly, was the reason she existed. She was descended from this woman. This woman was her blood.

"Elena, who gives a shit? This doesn't matter. Get the hell out of here, you moron! Run!" Katherine snapped.

"You bitch, run where, huh?" Elena yelled. "You said it yourself, he's going find me anyway, and I'm more worried for the people I care about than myself. If anything I want _them _to run. So shut up and stop telling me to run, it's not like you care anyway. Just shut up and tell me what I want to know. I know virtually nothing about who I really am and you owe it to me to tell me what I want to know before I die."

Katherine looked like she wanted to say something but she kept her mouth shut.

"Screw you and screw my mother too," Elena said, getting up to leave, more than just pissed off.

"Of course your mother loved you," Katherine finally said, before Elena could leave.

Elena stared right at Katherine and this time Katherine didn't look away.

"You wouldn't have been able to tell that I was my mother's daughter by looking at us. I didn't look like my mother, but I had her eyes. You look exactly like me- you have her eyes too," Katherine said.

Elena wasn't really sure how to answer so she kept quiet, as did Katherine. Elena wondered what she was thinking.

"I don't hate you, Elena," Katherine finally said. "I hate that my guy loves you, and make no doubt about it, if we all survive I _will_ try to get him back, but I don't hate you... Like it or not, you're mine. You're my blood, you carry on my blood-line. And I look you in the eye and I see my mother, and I-" Katherine said, taking a pause... "The past year or two aside, you had a pretty good life, didn't you?" Katherine asked Elena.

"Yeah," Elena admitted.

"You're welcome," Katherine said sarcastically.

"Am I supposed to thank you for something?" Elena asked, sarcasm in her voice too.

"I've kept Klaus and the rest of his merry gang far away from you for nearly your whole life. I managed to keep your existence mostly secret from anyone who could do you harm and even when whispers started going around that maybe, just maybe, the Petrova bloodline did not end with me, I always managed to get them sent in the opposite direction. And your mother, though I never told her any specifics, has been trying to keep you safe too."

"I don't understand you," Elena said, frustrated. "You act like you hate me, but you say you don't. And you know what, I think I might believe you there. We're blood and I can see that that means something to you, but now you come back to Mystic Falls and you've been trying to set up everything so that you can hand me over to Klaus. Why the hell now, after you apparently looked out for me, are you so ready to let Klaus kill me? Are you just tired of running? I don't get it."

"I'll let you in on a secret if you do something for me," Katherine said.

"What do you want?" Elena asked.

"Tell Stefan that I love him. He doesn't believe me when I tell him myself."

"You want me to tell _my _boyfriend that _you _ love him?" Elena asked.

"Yep," Katherine answered.

"Fine, I think he needs to hear that anyway, even if it's not for the same reason. I'll do it."

"Let's just say that yeah, I'm scared that Klaus is coming, and trust me, he _is _ coming. And he's coming with nothing but death on his mind. You pissed me off big time a couple days ago and so did Stefan. I _may _have overplayed my willingness to sacrifice you. I _might _have a plan that could possibly put you in a whole lot of danger, possibly still get you killed, but if this plan that I may or may not have works, you and I could be sitting pretty for a long time without any worries," Katherine said with a bit of a grin.

"Well, this plan you might have sounds pretty awesome compared to guaranteed dying."

"You need to find something, preferably lots of that something, if this plan could work," Katherine said. "This something you need, can be found in Mystic Falls, you just have to find it. I don't know where. Get your little gang together and start working your asses off."

"What do we need to look for?" Elena asked.

"It's called white-ash wood. Chop chop, Elena. The clock is ticking," Katherine said.

"Tell me more," Elena said, wanting more information.

"That's all you get right now. My game, my rules. Don't say I never do anything nice for you. Don't ever say I don't at least _try _to protect my own."

"Thanks- I guess," Elena said awkwardly and unhappily.

"Be sure to send Stefan my love," Katherine said with a grin, back to her typical bitch mode.


	2. Chapter 2

o-0-o-0-o Here's the second part. Hope you like it! Review and let me know o-0-o-0-o

Elena walked back to her house in a bit of a daze, paying no attention to anything around her. She was in her own world.

_I wonder if she's telling the truth. Maybe she's just screwing with me. Maybe she thinks she can just distract us and then Klaus can come around and kill us all even easier. Maybe she thinks we just bonded over Stefan or something and thinks I'm stupid and she's just trying to manipulate me. She knows me and Stefan aren't together and then she tells me to tell him that she loves him. I know that he needs to know it, but maybe she's trying right now to get him back before I can even fix things with him...Stefan and Damon insist that all she does is lie. And what if this little search for whatever the hell white-ash wood is is some kind of trap?... But at some point in there she was sincere. It was in her eyes... But Damon and Stefan keep insisting she does nothing but lie- but she screwed with them, both of them..._

_That's just their natural reaction now, isn't it? Whatever she says is a lie... I want to believe her, but I'm scared to believe her- which makes no sense. It's not like things can get much worse, the only thing that could really happen is that we all die a little quicker... Maybe she's telling the truth. She's _probably_ telling the truth. I really think she's telling the truth. She said I have her mother's eyes... Just do some research before you tell anyone else, that way you'll have some knowledge and just in case she's lying you don't have to get anyone involved..._

"Elena, there you are. I was looking for you," Stefan said, bringing Elena out of her own thoughts.

"Hey," she said, putting on a smile.

"Is everything alright? How are you?" he asked.

"I'm okay. You?" she asked back.

"I've just been thinking. Me and Damon were talking and this whole curse thing- it's all going to be okay. I'm going to keep you safe. We're going to keep you safe, and everyone safe. We'll find a way to make it all okay."

"Don't worry about me Stefan, okay? It means a lot that you guys care so much, but just leave it alone, okay?" Elena said, trying not to sound mean. "I know it's really early, but I'm tired. I'm gonna go in for an early sleep, okay?" she said, giving his hand a little squeeze.

Elena walked inside her house and locked the door behind her. Part of her just wanted to kiss Stefan and hold on to him tightly and not let go, but she couldn't. Not yet. Not in the middle of all this drama. She gave Jeremy a wave and headed up to her room. She changed into her pyjamas, grabbed her laptop, closed her light and got into her bed.

There was a knock at her door. "Elena?" Jeremy asked on the other side of the door.

"Come in," she told him.

"You okay?" he asked her, coming to sit at the edge of her bed.

Elena gave him a smile. "I'm fine."

"How are you fine?" he asked her. "I'm freaking out for you here."

Elena smiled again. "I don't want you to worry about any of this crap. It's all gonna be okay. We're gonna come up with something and everything will go back to normal. I'm not scared, I don't want you to be scared for me, either, okay?"

"Yeah, that's not gonna happen. You're my sister. Of course I'm gonna worry," he told her.

"Come here," she said, sitting up. Jeremy moved closer and Elena gave him a hug. "Don't worry about anything. Now get outta here. I know it's early but I'm beat. I just wanna sleep," Elena chuckled.

"If you're ever scared or whatever, or you wanna talk- I'm here," Jeremy said.

"You're a good brother Jeremy," Elena said, trying to keep her smile going.

"Let's be honest here, I've been a pretty crappy brother most of the time. You've always been the good sibling. I haven't always appreciated it, but I know you've been looking out for me for a long time. You've tried to keep me safe, so I'm just saying, if you need anything- I've got your back now, always. Okay? And now I'm gonna shut up and go so you can sleep,"

"Thanks Jer. Goodnight," Elena said.

As soon as he closed the door, Elena felt the tears fall from her eyes. She was scared. She did not want to die, but she was even more scared for those she loved. She'd gladly give herself up, if it meant that everyone she loved would all be okay. She shook her head and got online. She wasn't going to think about that stuff for a bit. She had some research to do before she started to worry again.

Elena let out a frustrated sigh after two hours of searching. Nothing about this white ash wood stuff sounded spectacularly special. Was she just allowing Katherine to get into her head? Was she being stupid for even having considered that she was telling the truth? Elena didn't know how to explain exactly what she felt when she thought about Katherine. She hated her because she wanted to take Stefan from her, even if she wasn't with him at the moment, Elena still thought of him as hers, it's not like she stopped loving him. She hated her because killed people. She hated her for what she did to Caroline, and to both Stefan and Damon.

But there was this part of her that wanted to believe Katherine. She wanted to believe that there was something good somewhere inside of her. She wanted to believe, that aside from the hate for being with Stefan part, that Katherine didn't actually hate her. Elena was annoyed with herself. She knew it all had something to do with never really knowing who she was until very recently. She knew it came from some kind of need to know the other half of herself, to know where she came from, but she wished she didn't give a crap.

Maybe she was being stupid, and maybe it's just because she was so tired, but right now, she'd finally decided- she was going to believe what Katherine said and hoped this white ash wood business wasn't about sending them on a pointless mission just to keep them occupied until Klaus came to kill them all.

She was feeling a bit hungry so she decided to get up and head to the kitchen. She grabbed her cell phone and dialled Stefan's number to tell him and Damon they should meet up tomorrow to talk about what Katherine had told her and then she'd call up Bonnie and Caroline next. As much as she wanted to keep her brother out of all of this, he was involved now and he wasn't going to keep him in the dark. She'd fill him in in a little bit.

She was dialling the number, not paying attention to where she was walking. "Hello," Stefan answered. "Hey," she said quietly. "We all need to meet up tomorrow. We've got to talk, it's important-" Elena completely missed the step and fell down the stairs with a huge bang at the end. Her head smashed against the floor when she landed at the bottom. She was out cold and there was blood oozing from the back of her head. Jenna came running to see what the noise was as Stefan began calling Elena's name through the phone.

"Elena. Hey, come on. Answer me," Stefan said. When he didn't get an answer, he got really worried and rushed over to her house.

"Jer, call the ambulance!" Jenna yelled. "She's knocked out and her head is bleeding, I don't know if anything else is hurt or broken. Hurry up," Jenna said frantically.

Stefan rushed into the house, thinking of an excuse on the fly when Jenna looked up at him.

"I was just coming by to see Elena and I heard you screaming. Oh my God," Stefan said, as he saw Elena.

He rushed to her side.

"Jeremy!" Jenna yelled. "Are you even here? Oh shit, he left half an hour ago. Oh my God. Stefan, give me your phone, I've got to call the damn ambulance," Jenna said.

Stefan passed her his cell phone.

"Elena, come on. Come on love, open your eyes," he said worriedly, taking off his jacket and bunching it up, putting it to the back of her head to stop the bleeding. He wished Jenna wasn't there right now. He could give Elena some blood if she wasn't here.

Elena's heartbeat was still strong, he knew she'd be fine, but still, this wasn't a good situation. She could be really hurt, something could be broken, and he could hurt her more if he tried to move her and that was the only thing that was keeping him from scooping her up and running her to the hospital himself.

It didn't take long for the ambulance to arrive. Only one of them was allowed in the ambulance with Elena. Jenna went in the ambulance and she asked Stefan to either wait for Jeremy to let him know or to give him a quick call before he joined her at the hospital.

Stefan wasn't waiting around. He dialled Jeremy right away as he headed out the door. Jeremy picked up, "Hey Stefan, what's up?"

"Elena fell down the stairs. She's out cold. Her head was bleeding. The ambulance is taking her to the hospital right now. Jenna's with her. I'm heading over there now."

"Fuck!" Jeremy cursed on the other end of the phone.

"I think she's gonna be okay," Stefan said.

"Okay, well I'm heading over to the hospital too. I guess I'll see you in a bit."

He was pretty sure Caroline had said she lost her cell phone so he just called Bonnie to tell her about Elena and then Bonnie could call Caroline at home since Stefan did not remember her house phone number. He called Damon last because along with him, he could get to the hospital in a matter of seconds, he didn't need the time the others did to get there. He wasn't answering, so he left him a message.

Stefan was at the hospital in no time but he and Jenna, of course, had to wait in the waiting room until the doctors were done with Elena and said it would be okay to see her.

Stefan had explained that Elena would probably be fine to everyone because he didn't want everyone to be scared, but he knew they'd all be at the hospital as soon as they could get there. Caroline and Jeremy arrived at the same time and joined Stefan and Jenna in waiting for them to say she was awake and that everything was okay.

"Why me? Why the hell me?" Bonnie muttered as she stopped her car. She was on her way to the hospital to see Elena, but as she turned out of her neighbourhood she noticed Damon walking on the street.

If he was out here that meant that he didn't know Elena was in the hospital. Bonnie was certain if he knew he'd be on his way to the hospital right now.

She reluctantly rolled down her window. "Get in Salvatore. We've gotta go. Chop chop."

"Hello Judgey. Do my ears deceive me or did you just invite me into your car? I knew you were softening towards me," Damon said with a smirk.

"I'm inviting you into my car. That should tell you that something is wrong right off the bat," Bonnie said impatiently. "Elena's in the hospital. Hurry up, let's go."

Damon hopped into the car and Bonnie sped off. "Why the hell didn't someone call me?" Damon asked. "And what happened to her. Is she alright?" Damon asked, sounding worried.

"Your brother called you, I can guarantee that. Are you sure you have your phone with you?" Bonnie asked. "I think she's gonna be fine, but there's no way I'm not gonna be there," she said. "Stefan said that she fell down the stairs and whacked her head, it was bleeding. She was knocked out," Bonnie said, taking a deep breath. "The girl can't get a damn break right now," Bonnie said angrily, honking at the car in front of her. The driver was taking his sweet time.

"Dude, seriously- hurry the hell up!" Bonnie yelled out her window, honking again.

"Hey, witchy," Damon said, trying to distract her and calm her down.

"What?" Bonnie snapped.

"Thanks for stopping for me, letting me know what's up."

"Yeah, yeah," Bonnie said awkwardly. "Don't worry about it. You can repay me by behaving for like- the rest of your existence," Bonnie said, stepping on the gas when the car in front of her turned onto another street.

"I don't know if I'm _that_ grateful, Judgey. And besides, we wouldn't have any fun if I wasn't pissing you off and you weren't giving me brain aneurisms every other day. You know you'd miss the banter. Really, me not being so good all the time is really for _your_ benefit- I keep you on your toes. It's _also _very fun for me."

"Oh fuck my life," Bonnie muttered, and despite being worried for Elena and in a hurry to get to her, Damon could not help but laugh at Bonnie's last statement.

"You're really lucky that I love Elena," Bonnie said.

"Awww come on Bon-Bon, you know I'm growing on you. We're almost BFFs now," Damon said with a smirk and Bonnie burst out laughing.

"You and me BFFs-well you managed to calm me down and make me laugh my ass off, I'll give you that, Salvatore. No brain aneurisms for you today," Bonnie said as she turned into the parking lot.

"Damon," Bonnie said seriously after a moment. "You know, all this other stuff with Elena, this Klaus stuff- I already told Stefan, but I'm telling you too. I'm in. I'm all in. If there's anything I can do that's gonna help keep her alive and well, I'll do it. I'm not gonna let some creepy old bastard come into my town and wreak havoc. I'm not losing my best friend to him. I'm not gonna let my other best friend or Tyler die either."

"Are we calling a truce, Bennett?" Damon asked.

"Yes. We've all got to work together to get rid of this Klaus problem," she said.

Damon gave her a nod, but they didn't speak anymore as they got out of the car. They hurried into the hospital and joined Stefan, Jenna, Caroline and Jeremy.

"He either forgot his phone at your house or lost it," Bonnie explained to Stefan. "He didn't get your call, so I did my good deed for the decade and brought him over."

"Is Elena gonna be okay?" Bonnie and Damon asked at the same time.

"They haven't been in there long, they haven't come to tell us anything yet," Jenna said. "I'm going to find a doctor. Ric should be here in a minute, tell him I'll be back."

As soon as Jenna turned the corner Alaric arrived.

"Jenna said she'll be back," Stefan told him.

"Okay, so someone tell me what the hell is going on. What happened to Elena? All Jenna said was that you guys rushed Elena here."

Alaric got filled in and then Stefan asked "Did Elena call any of you guys in the past couple hours?"

Everyone shook their heads.

"I saw her earlier today, and she looked like something was bothering her but she said that everything was okay. I told her we'd make sure she was safe, that everything would be okay. She wasn't in a chatty mood. She said not to worry about her and she said she was going in for an early sleep," Stefan said.

"Yeah, I guess she'd just seen you when she got home. She came in and pretty much just went to bed. I had virtually the same conversation with her," Jeremy said.

"About two hours after I saw her, she called me. All she managed to say was that we all needed to meet up tomorrow and talk and that it was important and before I could ask her anything I kind of heard her crashing down the stairs, she didn't answer me and I ran over to the house. She hit her head pretty bad, it was bleeding but the ambulance got there pretty quick. Scared the hell out of me, though."

"Do you think she had a plan or some kind of idea about the Klaus situation?" Caroline asked.

"Honestly, I don't know. I kind of thought that might be it, but it could have even been a meeting to tell us all to stop worrying about her, which seems to be her mantra lately. She's more worried about how we're all taking it, than how she's feeling," Stefan said.

"That's our Elena," Caroline and Bonnie said at the same time, earning sad smiles from each other.

"She'll tell us what's up when she wakes up," Damon said and Stefan nodded.

Jenna came back fifteen minutes later. "She's up."

"Good," everyone said at once.

"Yes and no," Jenna told them.

"What do you mean yes and no?" Stefan asked.

"She's gonna be fine, but it looks like she's got amnesia."

As soon as she saw the looks of horror on everyone's faces, she revised her statement. "Not long term, she just doesn't remember the past couple days- but still, that's not good."

Jenna headed back to talk to the doctor.

"Okay, now I'm kind of starting to really freak out," Caroline said. "I think she a had plan or information, or something, and now she's not gonna remember anything. And then we're back at square one of not really knowing what the hell to do besides wait around for Elena to get sacrificed and us to get slaughtered.

"Everything is going to be fine. Elena is _not _ getting sacrificed. I'm not gonna let it happen. And from here on out we all work together on everything. If we work together, we can make sure all of us make it through," Stefan said.

"That's very optimistic thinking," Alaric said, not unkindly.

"Maybe," Damon said, answering Alaric. "Doesn't mean it's not true."

"I've already told these two that I'm in on this team thing, whatever it takes- what about you guys?" Bonnie asked Jeremy, Alaric and Caroline.

After receiving responses of, "I'm in. She's my sister." "I'm in." "Seriously Bon? Of course I'm in."

"I knew you'd all say that. It's just good to hear out loud," Bonnie said with a small smile.

"And now we can call ourselves the Dream Team," Damon said with a smirk. "And then because all of the working together we're all gonna do, even Bonnie won't be able to hold on to her hate for me for much longer, and then we'll be on the road to being besties for life."

"That's your new enjoyment, isn't it- annoying me with best friend comments?" Bonnie sighed. "I'm such a lucky girl- NOT!"

"Sorry Damon, me and Elena have dibs on being Bonnie's besties for life," Caroline said, sticking her tongue out at Damon.

Everyone just shook their heads and laughed a little. They were all stressed out and worried, but really, there wasn't much else to do right now but laugh. Elena was mostly okay, and that's what was important.

"I say tonight, we all see Elena for a bit, and then tomorrow we get to talking and planning," Stefan said.

"Sounds good. Elena's not going to be happy about this, but I say we do this little meeting without her, for now. I just want her to relax right now," Jeremy said.

"Surprisingly, I'm with the littlest Gilbert. We should keep Elena out of it," Damon said.

Alaric nodded and Stefan said, "I don't really like it, but I think it's probably the best thing right now.'

"I'm kind of torn on it," Caroline said.

"No," Bonnie said.

Stefan was about to speak but Jeremy spoke again, looking specifically at Bonnie. "Come on, Bonnie, just for now, it's not like we're not gonna tell her. We're not gonna leave her in the dark for long, but just for a couple days. You know she just needs to relax and be calm and get things back to normal, and maybe she'll remember some stuff too, you know if her head isn't stuck on what we'll be talking about. Please don't fight us on this," he told her gently.

Bonnie softened a bit. "Two days, Jer. That's it. Two days goes by and if you guys don't tell her, I will."

Caroline looked from Bonnie to Jeremy. It could be nothing, but Caroline could sense a little something extra in the air between Bonnie and Jeremy. Caroline shook her head and smirked a little bit. _I wonder if something's going on there..._

"Bonnie," Stefan said. "Whatever we figure out and decide to do, you're gonna be really important. I have a feeling we're going to need you a lot. I know you're strong, but don't overexert yourself, okay? If at some point it gets to be too much, just let us know so we can give you a breather. Elena would never forgive any of us if she knew that we let you push yourself to much and that we let you hurt yourself, and I wouldn't forgive myself either."

Bonnie gave Stefan a smile. "I won't go too hard all at once. You don't need to worry about me, but thanks."

"Okay guys. You can go in, but only two at a time," Jenna said when she returned.

Stefan and Jeremy went in first. Damon tried to be annoying and to get Stefan and Jeremy going by dashing ahead in to see Elena, but Bonnie fixed that real quick.

Damon gave Bonnie a dirty look when he came back to wait with her and Caroline and Alaric.

"I thought we had a truce, and you promised-"

"We do have a truce and all I promised you for today was that I wouldn't give you any brain aneurisms. All I did was make you trip. It was fun, it was a joke. It made me laugh and it's your job as a potential Bonnie bestie in the making to make me laugh and help me have fun," Bonnie said with a smirk.

"I could help you have fun in other ways, _many_ other ways that would also be very fun for me," Damon said suggestively, wanting to piss Bonnie off. It earned him a smack across the face.

"This is all going to end in a bloodbath, one way or another," Caroline mumbled and Alaric laughed.

"I know what you mean. Either Klaus comes by and rips everyone to shreds, or Bonnie and Damon will annihilate each other.

They were all in for one hell of a ride.


	3. Chapter 3

o-0-o Here's the new chapter. Review and let me know what you think. I love your feedback. It's the only way to know if I should continue o-0-o

"This whole thing has been very embarrassing," Elena told Matt, shaking her head. Bonnie had called Matt to let him know that Elena was in the hospital. He had driven out of the city for awhile so he didn't get in to see Elena until later on. And he was lucky to get in. Everyone else was sent home earlier, Elena couldn't help but laugh. She was pretty sure it was because Damon ended up pissing off the hospital staff.

"There's nothing embarrassing about hurting yourself," Matt told her. "I'm just glad you're okay. It really sucks that you don't remember the past couple days, though."

"Yeah, that part kind of scares me, but you all can just fill in those blanks for me, I guess... Anyway, enough about clumsy me- how are _you_?" Elena asked.

"I'm okay, I guess- everything considered," he answered.

"Have you and Tyler talked anymore recently?" she asked.

"No, not really. I don't blame him if he never talks to me again. And everything with Care- I miss her, Elena."

"You could try to talk to her, and Tyler too. It couldn't hurt," Elena told him.

"We'll see," he told her. "Back to you, though. Do you need anything? Do you want me to sneak in anything for you?" he asked with a grin.

"You're the best," Elena grinned. "I could definitely use some chocolate."

"And chocolate you shall have. I'll be back," he told her, smiling back.

o-o-o-o-o-o-o

"Honestly, I think the best bet is to just de-spell the moonstone," Caroline said.

It was the next day and they were all having their little meeting.

"Easier said than done, right?" Alaric said, looking to Bonnie.

"Yes," Bonnie admitted. "Easier said than done, but still probably do-able."

"That's the spirit, Judgey," Damon grinned. Bonnie rolled her eyes.

"Yeah, that's probably the best bet, but I don't want to just dump everything on Bonnie. Maybe there's another way," Stefan said.

Bonnie gave him a smile.

"I'm with Stefan. It's not fair to dump everything on Bonnie," Jeremy said and Caroline smirked to herself.

"She's my best friend- I don't want to dump everything on her either, but really, do we have a different idea?" Caroline said.

"I'm not sure if I should be appreciative or a little pissed off at the moment," Bonnie said with a chuckle. "Thanks for looking out for me, but I'm stronger than I look. We have no other ideas right now, so that leaves me."

"We'll leave the magic stuff to Bonnie, but there's still stuff for the rest of us to do. Someone's going to need to be with Elena pretty much at all times," Alaric said.

"Yeah, just because we de-spell the moonstone, doesn't mean we're home-free," Stefan said. "I don't just see Klaus coming and then finding out his sacrifice ritual won't work and leaving. He's going to wreak some havoc and I practically guarantee he's going to go after Elena anyway."

"Ricky-boy and the littlest Gilbert can stay on Elena watch. Bonnie the Judgey Witch is on Moonstone duty. You, me, and vampire Barbie can play bodyguard," Damon said to Stefan.

"Guys," Bonnie said.

"Yes Judgey?" Damon responded.

"Oh for God's sake, stop calling me that," Bonnie said.

"Okay, yes Witch?" Damon grinned.

"Well, _vampire_, everyone seems to be forgetting something, in order for me to figure out a way to de-spell the moonstone, we'd actually need to have it," Bonnie said.

Several hours went by before they laid out their full plan. By the time they were done Bonnie, Jeremy and Alaric were all hungry. Jeremy asked Bonnie if she wanted to grab a bite to eat and then said to Alaric, "If you don't mind being seen out with your students for supper, you're welcome to join us."

"I think I'll pass," Alaric said with a laugh.

Bonnie shouldn't have agreed to go with Jeremy. She was pretty sure he was developing some kind of feelings for her. She shouldn't encourage him, even if she might just be developing a little something for him too. She shook it off and told herself they were just going to grab some food because they were hungry. Friends got food all the time. You could go get food with your best friend's little brother...

"Earth to Bonnie," Jeremy said with a laugh.

"Sorry," Bonnie said with a smile. "Were you saying something?"

"I asked where you wanted to go."

"Umm," Bonnie was having second thoughts. She probably shouldn't be doing things with him without others around at least not too often- everything would be simpler that way. "How about we just order some pizza and hang out with Elena," she suggested.

"Oh," Jeremy sounded disappointed. "Okay sure."

"Cool," Bonnie said, feeling a bit relieved.

"But we're not saying anything to her tonight. We'll let Stefan and Damon tell her tomorrow. You're still with us on that, right?" Jeremy said.

"Yeah, yeah. I'll keep my mouth shut," Bonnie said.

"It's better this way," Jeremy said with a grin. "If she gets angry, they'll be the ones who get the brunt of it- not us."

Bonnie let out a laugh. "Okay- now I see the motivation."

"Maybe I'm completely wrong- I really hope I am, but I get the sense you might be mad at me. Are you?" Jeremy said.

And then Bonnie felt bad. She didn't want to encourage Jeremy, but she did not want to hurt him either, not at all. "No Jer. I'm not mad at you. You didn't do anything wrong. I'm just kinda stressed."

"Okay," Jeremy said with a nod. "Well hopefully some pizza will de-stress you. I'm thinking it probably won't- but we can hope, right?"

Bonnie gave him a smile. He was sweet. Really sweet. She knew what was happening. The kid was falling for her a bit. Goodness help him- poor guy. She hoped this thing wouldn't last long, for his sake. She had a fear that somehow she would damage him even more than he'd already been damaged. Yeah, maybe she started to like him too, but she really hoped he'd stop liking her. She didn't want to cause him pain or trouble, and somehow she thought she would, maybe simply because she was who she was.

Jeremy needed a nice normal girl, Bonnie thought, someone who has nothing to do with this world of the supernatural, a world she was a part of. He deserved some happiness. He and Elena had lost their parents. And then he lost Vicki and then Anna. He needed to catch a break. And it shouldn't be with her. He was her best friend's kid brother. Yes, that's what she should focus on. He was Elena's _younger_ brother. It didn't matter if she might like him. That would be her mantra. They'd both get over this little thing before they knew it.

o-o-o-o-o-o

Katherine wanted to sleep. Sleep would have been awesome. Instead, she was wide awake. Wide awake and wanting blood. It had been about two days, she thought, since Elena had been down here. She wondered what was going on right now. She wondered if Elena had told everyone about the white-ash wood. She wondered when someone would come down here again and hopefully with some damn blood.

Elena- that girl was annoying. But she was also smart. And she was also a Petrova. She was one of hers. If Elena wasn't from her very own line, she could say with 100% certainty that she almost definitely would have killed her by now. But she couldn't, well she wouldn't kill her. She wouldn't kill one of her own and wouldn't let anything happen to her- no matter how bad she hated that she was with Stefan.

Katherine was determined to get Stefan back. He belonged with her. Why the hell of all people did he have to meet Elena and fall for her- she was the only damn girl Katherine couldn't just get rid of without a care in the world... Getting Stefan back would come, she'd make sure of it somehow, but for now the most important thing was keeping her line safe, keeping Elena safe. Shacking up with Katherine's guy or not, Elena kept her line going. Elena was the living, breathing proof, that Katherine's daughter had lived and loved and was happy and if for nothing else, that fact tied Katherine to Elena. That fact would keep Katherine from making sure Klaus didn't get his claws into Elena... She'd keep her safe, but she'd also get Stefan back. She'd been without him for far too long.

She knew that sleep would not come but she closed her eyes anyway. Closed her eyes and pictured Stefan.

o-o-o-o-o-o-o

"Hey, I just wanted to stop in and check on you. How are you feeling?" Stefan asked, coming in to see Elena.

She gave him a little smile. "Hi," she answered. "Okay, I guess. Aside from feeling like a complete dumbass. I hate not being able to remember everything."

"What's the last thing you remember?" he asked.

"Going to see Katherine that day in the tomb when she told me about Klaus and the curese and then you coming down there and bringing me home and me blubbering like an idiot," Elena said.

"Hey," Stefan said gently. "Why are you being so hard on yourself?"

"Because everything's my fault."

"_Nothing_ is your fault," Stefan said, taking her hand. "You can't help whose blood you share. It's not your fault that this stupid curse thing exists. Somehow, everything is going to be okay. I promise you, somehow, everything will be okay in the end. Please believe that."

"Why are you so good to me? I know why I love you, but why do you still love me? I only bring you trouble and pain," she whispered.

"Are you really asking me that? There are a million reasons why I love you. How about I just give you one of them for now- you're the best thing that's ever happened to me, the best thing that ever will happen to me... If anyone's brought anyone trouble and pain between the two of us it's been me to you... Do you really think that you breaking up with me would ever make me stop loving you, especially when I knew that you were just trying to protect all the other people you love? If anything, I just respect you more. Did you really think you ending things would make me turn away from you?"

"I don't know," she whispered, wiping her eyes. "At this point, though, it really wish it would. I wish you'd turn away, I wish you'd want to get as far away from me as possible. I wish you would leave town and take everyone with you, so that nothing would happen to you guys. I wish you'd leave and that Klaus would hurry up and get this crap over with."

"Look at me," he said, gently tilting her chin upwards so that she was looking him in the eyes. "Everything is going to be alright. _Everyone_ is going to be alright. Things will calm down. Okay?"

Elena nodded, trying to believe him. She didn't want him to keep worrying about her. She looked down at his hand, the one that was holding hers. She missed feeling his skin against hers. She just missed him altogether. She traced circles on his hand with her thumb for a minute or two before quietly saying, "I miss you- so much."

And then the door opened and Bonnie and Jeremy walked in saying something about pizza coming soon. When they saw that Stefan was there they both got an "I'm sorry for interrupting" look on their face.

"Hey guys," she said, trying to sound like they hadn't interrupted anything. It was probably a good thing they showed up, actually. It probably wasn't the best idea to be delving into stuff like that with Stefan- even though she was aching for him, aching for him like crazy.

"Do you want us to go?" Jeremy asked. There was no point in being subtle.

Stefan and Elena both laughed a bit, but it was Elena who answered.

"Nah, get in here. Stefan was just making sure I was okay- checking to see if maybe I smacked my head on the coffee table or something."

Stefan could tell this was his cue to take a hike. He gave her hand one last squeeze before getting up and saying goodbye to all three of them. He knew she was rethinking what she said. It was like music to his ears to hear her say that she missed him. She was probably telling herself that she shouldn't have told him that. She was always too hard on herself. Stefan couldn't wait for the day when all this crazy sacrifice crap was over. He knew when all of this settled down they could be together- that day could not come fast enough for Stefan.

"Soooo, we totally interrupted something- sorry," Bonnie said.

"You didn't interrupt anything. We were just talking and I told him I missed him, which I shouldn't have... Now please tell me that I _did_ hear you correctly when you walked in. Tell me that pizza is on the way. I'd kind of like to stuff my face right now and stop thinking for like two minutes. And then after the two minute of thinking-free time, you two can fill me in on anything important that I can't remember," Elena said.

Bonnie just gave her best friend a smile. She'd make sure everything would be all right. She'd make sure they'd all get to see Elena genuinely smile again. She'd make sure that once they got the moonstone she would de-spell it and destroy it. She'd make sure Elena could have some peace. Elena was a tough girl, but Bonnie could never bear to see her down. There was something very protective in Bonnie for Elena, she hated to see her hurting, she even hated to see her simply frustrated. Elena wasn't just her best friend. Elena was family to her. She'd make sure that she saw her happy again.


	4. Chapter 4

o-o-o If you recognize some dialogue, that's because I used a bunch from the show. This chapter is set around the episode The Sacrifice, but I insert plenty of my own into it, including what the characters are thinking and feeling and whole extra 'scenes' if you will. Oh and I'll follow the events from the show up until the episode "The Descent" and then I go my own way... Anyway, hope you like it. Let me know what you think. I love reviews. They're the only way I know if I should keep going with the story. o-o-o

"Please, come on in," Katherine said, feeling extremely weak and hungry. "There's plenty of room for all of us."

"I'd rather poke my eyes out," Damon said.

"They're such pretty eyes," she said, trying to get a rise out of him. What could she say, she was bored and it was fun to piss him off.

Damon just rolled his eyes.

"We're here for the moonstone," Stefan said.

"Feel like tossing it over?" Damon asked.

"Tell you what, you get your little witch to hocus-pocus me out of here- you can have whatever you want," she said, wanting and needing to get out of this wretched tomb.

"I thought you liked it in here? Nice and safe where Klaus can't get to you," Stefan said, throwing her words from the last time back at her.

"I've had time to reconsider," she said,

"Meaning you're hungry," Damon said.

"I'm starving, Damon," she confirmed. "And dirty. But above all, I'm bored. And least running from Klaus wasn't boring. So here's the deal," she said to the brothers, "You get me out of here, you get the moonstone and I'll disappear from Mystic Falls forever. Let me know what you decide," she said, before heading back deeper into the tomb. She had no intention of leaving, but it seemed like the right thing to say. Neither brother was her biggest fan right now.

She wanted to yell at them and ask them if they were stupid or something. Why weren't they talking about the white-ash wood? But then she had figured they just didn't want to involve her at all because they didn't trust her. Fine. She'd go along with it their stubbornness for now. The truth was, she didn't _need_ to be out of the tomb for her plan to work, but with blood in her system she was definitely the strongest of them all.

She didn't like not being included, especially in her own damn plan, but she supposed that them doing something, even if it was without her, was much better than doing nothing.

Little did she know that they had no clue about her plan with the white-ash wood.

o-o-o-o-o

Elena took a breath, she knew Stefan was at the door. She was going to act like she hadn't told him that she missed him yesterday. She was going to be distant or at least try to be. She should try to push him away for his own sake. Maybe he'd go away, far away and he'd be safe. That would be wonderful. She would try to push everyone away, keep everyone safe. She knew her logic was stupid and that it would almost for 100% sure not work, but she could try.

"Hey," Stefan said. "Can we talk?" he asked. Damon was with him.

"Why?" she asked, hating herself for acting like this.

"We went to see Katherine,' Damon told her.

She knew she couldn't just say no. "Come on in," she told them.

"You don't believe her, do you?" Elena asked them when they told her about their meeting with Katherine in the tomb.

"No. Of course not. We just want the moonstone."

"According to Rose's friend Slater, there's a way to destroy the spell that Klaus wants to break," Stefan told her.

"No spell. No doppelganger sacrifice- ergo, you live," Damon said.

"How do you destroy it?" she asked curiously.

"By releasing it from the moonstone," Stefan explained.

Elena just shook her head. She didn't think she liked this idea. "How do you guys even know this is gonna work?"

"Cuz we have a crafty witch on our side," Damon said simply.

"You've discussed it with Bonnie," Elena said, almost sighing. She didn't want Bonnie getting any more involved in this stuff. She was already worried about Bonnie, she did not want her friend risking anything by doing a spell that might take too much out of her.

"She agreed to do anything she could to help us," Stefan said.

"It's Katherine who has the moonstone. She's not gonna give it to you," Elena said in a pathetic attempt to dissuade the brothers from their plan.

"We're gonna get it from her," Stefan said, seemingly determined for Elena to get on board and be happy about the plan.

"Well, what he means to say is we will get it from her cold, dead hand if we have to."

"Bonnie just needs to find a way to release the seal long enough for us to get in, get the moonstone-" Stefan said.

"Wow, I mean, it sounds like you guys already have it all planned out," Elena said, not liking that everyone was so willing to risk themselves for her.

"Yep. We're awesome," Damon said, pleased with himself.

"Except for one thing," Elena said. "I don't want you to do it," she said, completely honest.

"What are you talking about? Elena, we don't have a choice," Stefan told her. Both he and Damon were looking like they thought she must be a bit crazy.

"What about Klaus?" She asked.

"We'll find him, right after we get the moonstone," Stefan told her.

"Is that before or after he kills everyone I care about, including the two of you," Elena said, exasperated, forgetting to act distant and aloof. Why didn't Stefan care about his own safety, why didn't Damon?

She noticed the look on Damon's face. She must have shocked him by saying she cared about him. She didn't think she'd be able to care about him again, but she did. He was screwed up and did horrible things sometimes and when he did what he did to Jeremy she truly wanted to murder him. But somewhere along the way, he'd shown regret and remorse and change. She knew he would have taken it back if he could, and Jeremy had forgiven him. She knew he was trying to be better and she wasn't stupid enough not to know that he was mostly doing it for her. They were friends again and she was happy that he seemed to be doing better, seemed to be able to access some of his humanity again. She wasn't going to let Elijah come and kill him and ruin any chance of Damon actually becoming good like she knew he could be.

And there was no way in hell that she was going to let Klaus touch Stefan. No way in hell. Not her Stefan.

"Elena, if we can de-spell the moonstone we can save your life," Stefan said, exasperated. Why was she being like this? Why didn't she care that she could die? Did she not get that a lot of people would go out of their mind with grief if anything happened to her? Did she not understand that it would absolutely destroy him if anything happened to her? Didn't she understand how precious she was?

"I know. Everybody keeps saying that," she said, getting up to leave the room. She couldn't do this anymore.

She left Stefan and Damon in her kitchen. She headed to her room and shut the door. She sat down on her bed and closed her eyes. She needed to just bring all of this to a stop. They needed to just stop trying to save her because it was only going to end up hurting them all in the end. She sat there thinking for a few moments and then she finally heard Stefan and Damon leave. And then she knew what she was going to do. She needed to find Rose.

o-o-o-o-o-

_Wow. That was-wow. Amazing. Me, Luka, the magic. That felt awesome._

Bonnie smiled. She'd never experienced something like that before. Channelling Luka, sharing their strength. That was something almost unreal. She was so happy that she met Luka. Having someone else like her was comforting. Bonnie was almost sure that he liked her. He was nice, good-looking, could help her and could really understand all the witch stuff.

And then she saw Jeremy head over and she immediately felt like she was doing something wrong, which was stupid because she hadn't done anything wrong with Luka, plus there was nothing between her and Jeremy- he was Elena's little brother after all.

"What's with that weather, huh?" Jeremy said as he walked over to Bonnie and Luka.

"Global warming, man," Luka responded. "I dunno. I gotta go. See you later Bonnie."

"Bye Luka," she said with a smile.

"Bye."

"The guy's weird, huh," Jeremy said to Bonnie.

"No he's not," she responded. And that's when she noticed she still had his chain. She wanted to give it back, but she got distracted by the message that came to her phone. It was from Damon.

Jeremy asked what was up, but Bonnie didn't really want to tell him right now. Jeremy didn't know, but Damon and Stefan had come by her house last night after she went home with a slight change to the plan, if she was okay with it. She would do it, but she didn't want to tell Jeremy right now because he'd probably start to worry about her. When Jeremy asked who it was, all she told him was that it was Damon and that he and Stefan needed to see her.

o-o-o-o-o-o-

_Sure, I pretty much just lied to Rose and made her believe that I could get Bonnie to make her a daylight ring, but in the end, she'll probably be thanking me when Klaus takes me and leaves the Mystic falls crowd alone. Rose will take me to Slater, Slater will tell me some way to get in contact with Klaus and I'll tell Klaus to come and get me. I'll go with him without a fight as long as he swears to leave everyone in Mystic Falls alone. He'll get all the elements he needs and then he'll kill me, just me. Then it'll all be over._

Rose was saying something to Elena but she had completely missed it, caught up in her own thoughts. Elena couldn't lie, even if it was only to herself. She was a bit scared, but that was probably normal considering she was basically planning her own death. She might be scared, but she was sticking with her plan. She would much rather die than have the people she loved die. She'd give her life for theirs any day. No question about it.

o-o-o-o-o-o-

"I might be able to lower the tomb spell long enough for you to get in there and grab the moonstone from Katherine," Bonnie said to Stefan and Damon.

"How? It took both you and your Grams last time, and look what happened to her," Jeremy said.

That last part pissed Bonnie off a bit. There was no need to bring up her grandmother.

For a split second both Stefan and Damon thought Bonnie might walk out the door at the mention of her grandmother, that or give both of them and Jeremy a death glare or two, but none of that happened.

"I'm well aware of what happened," Bonnie said calmly. The brothers could tell she was trying to control herself. "I've learned a few new things," she said.

"Bonnie-" Jeremy said.

Bonnie looked away from Jeremy and turned to Stefan instead. "How will you get it?" she asked him.

"She hasn't been feeding. She's weaker- or not," Stefan said.

"You wouldn't be underestimating her, would you?" Bonnie asked.

"It's a plan," Damon told her. "Is it perfect? What plan is?"

"Let me do it. I've got my ring. I could get in, get out- no spells necessary," Jeremy said.

And then Bonnie softened a little. It was sweet that he was trying to look out for her, but also a little maddening.

"Gee thanks, you 16 year old- _child_. Why didn't we think about that? Why are you even here?" Damon asked, actually curious as to why Jeremy had arrived with Bonnie.

"Maybe I can help better the plan," Bonnie said, trying to diffuse the tension. She wanted to smack Damon for being mean to Jeremy, but he was also right, Jeremy shouldn't even be here. "Do you have anything that belongs to Katherine?" she asked Stefan and Damon.

Stefan did. He had the portrait of her from 1864. It belonged to her originally. He went and got the picture and there was a tiny moment where Damon just stared at his brother.

Bonnie did her magic thing and the picture was in flames. Stefan was happy to be doing anything that would lead to Elena being safe because that was the only thing that mattered to him right now, but a small part of him felt wrong for letting Katherine's picture just burn. He shook the thought off and could not wait until they got the moonstone. The sooner that happened the sooner Elena would be safe, the sooner they'd all be safe.

Damon asked Bonnie what the spell was supposed to do. She explained that she was turning the metal to ash. They could blow the ash onto Katherine and it would incapacitate her momentarily. Long enough for Stefan and Damon to get the moonstone and get out.

No one seemed to notice, which was good, but Bonnie's nose started to bleed. That wasn't a good thing. Bonnie knew this was taking a lot out of her. No one noticed so Bonnie just kept going.

When it all turned to ash Stefan and Damon went to grab the stuff they'd need.

"Alaric's stake-gun is in my trunk," Damon said. "Bonnie?"

"Go ahead," she told him. "I'm almost done."

When Damon and Stefan left Jeremy asked her what she was doing. She immediately hushed him.

"You're not strong enough-" he started.

She put her finger on his lip to quiet him. She didn't really realize what she did. It was kind of intimate.

"I'll be fine," she told him softly.

He shouldn't be worrying about her.

"You could get hurt," he said. Their faces were only inches apart.

"And Elena could die. I'll be fine- I promise," she said, finding it hard to keep looking him directly in the eye.

Why did he like her so much? Why did he have to look at her like that? He wasn't exactly making things easy for her.

"I promise," she said again.

"Alright, here- I got this, okay. Go get me um- go get me something to put this in. Alright?" he said, hoping he sounded convincing.

Bonnie smiled and went off to find something to put the ash in. Little did she know that he was taking some and he planned to go to the tomb before any of them could get there. He'd go in and get the moonstone and then Bonnie wouldn't have to do the spell. She wouldn't have to drain herself anymore than she already was.

He yelled to Bonnie that he would meet her at the tomb and left before she could come back in the room.

o-o-o-o-o-

Elena did it. She was at Slater's place. Yes, he was dead, but his girlfriend was here and they'd figured something out. Before long Klaus or Elijah or whoever would come around and take her. It was weird, but at this point, she almost felt relieved that it would all be over soon. She didn't regret her plan but she couldn't help having the feeling that she was forgetting something really important. Katherine kept popping into her head for some reason. She wished she knew why.

Rose was freaking out and Elena kind of felt bad for her, even though the woman herself was going to offer up Elena to Elijah not so long ago. Elena couldn't worry about Rose's feelings right now, she didn't have the energy too.

She could tell Rose was pissed off at her, she walked out of the room. Even though Rose did what she did, she knew the woman didn't hate her. She was only trying to save herself and her friend before. Now that that was done, Elena was pretty sure that Rose genuinely didn't want Elena to die.

Elena just shook her head and waited. Hoping things from here on out would happen quickly.

o-o-o-o-o-

"The youngest Gilbert. This is an intriguing surprise," Katherine said, truly surprised to see Jeremy.

"I'm here for the moonstone," he said simply.

"Yeah, yeah, the moonstone. It's very popular today," Katherine said, feeling her hunger rise.

"Give it to me," Jeremy said.

"Naive little Gilbert. If you want it, you're gonna have to come here and get it," she said, sincerely hoping he would try. She was hungry. The blood pumping through his veins was practically screaming at her.

Then he did something she actually didn't expect- he shot a stake at her and then threw something in her face, incapacitating her.

When she fell to the ground Jeremy rushed in and found the moonstone. But he wasn't quick enough getting out. Katherine was up again fairly quickly.

She charged at him and drank deep, but Jeremy had at least managed to throw the moonstone outside of the tomb. At least Bonnie could get it when she got down there without having to unseal the tomb. That was what was important. Bonnie doesn't have to weaken herself more and they can get started on our plan to save Elena- that was what was important...

And then Katherine dragged him farther into the tomb, feasting on his blood.

o-o-o-o-o-

Bonnie met Stefan and Damon at the entrance to the tomb. "Sorry I'm late. I had to grab the grimoire from home."

"Jeremy couldn't take the pressure, huh?" Damon asked with a little grin. He reminded himself to ask the witch later on why Jeremy had come with her to their house in the first place, wondering if she'd tell him.

Bonnie wanted to roll her eyes at him, but didn't really have the energy. It was actually surprising that all she wanted to do was roll her eyes. She had to admit, she and Damon had gotten along better lately. Oh she still wanted to smack him more often than not, but, it was scary to admit, and she'd only admit it to herself, she didn't think she hated him anymore. The thought freaked her out because she had spent so much time and energy hating him for all the horrible things that he had done, and now that intense hate was gone. They were allies and she had come to trust that he wasn't going to turn against her, but she would not call them friends, because she honestly didn't know if she could ever really let go of all that had happened, if she'd let herself let it go, if she even wanted to, because disliking Damon was something that had been constant and unchanging- something steady in Mystic Falls world of chaos, but she didn't hate him anymore. She would not tell him that, though. She didn't if she'd actually be able to get the words off her lips.

Damon got a call and disappeared for a minute as she and Stefan went in.

As Stefan started to unpack something from the bag, he spotted something on the ground.

"What the hell?" he said.

"Is that the moonstone?" Bonnie asked, a little bit shocked.

"I hate to interrupt," Katherine said, with Jeremy's blood on her lips. "But today's just been full of surprises," she said, yanking Jeremy closer so that they could see him clearly.

"I'm sorry. I took some powder," Jeremy said to Bonnie. He looked really weak and hurt. Bonnie's heart sunk. She started to feel sick.

_Fuck! No, no, no. Not Jeremy._

"Don't worry. I know that he's wearing his ring and no matter how many times I kill him he'll just keep coming back for more. _So_, I'm gonna be in the back playing with my new little toy and you guys just give me a holler when you've got the tomb open."

Bonnie wanted to set Katherine on fire and just let her burn.

"Where the hell is Damon?" Stefan said.

"We can't wait," Bonnie reminded him. "We have to get him out of there."

"She's fed. She has her strength back," Stefan said, frustrated and worried for Jeremy.

_Poor kid. Stupid stubborn kid. He's had enough shit happen to him already. We gotta get him out. Elena's gonna flip if she finds out. She does not need anymore stress. She's not gonna have this on her plate too, no way. We're gonna get him out, no matter what it takes._

"We still have what's left of the ash. You think you can get close enough?" Bonnie asked Stefan.

"I don't have a choice."

"It's gonna take me some time," Bonnie told him.

"How long?"

"I don't know. Awhile," she answered.

"Just get me in there as soon as you can."

o-o-o-o-o-o-

Shocked wasn't quite the right word to describe Elena's reaction when she saw Damon.

"What are you doing here?" he asked her.

She asked him the same. Rose must have called him. _Shit!_

"Come on. We're leaving," he told her.

"No."

"I said we're _leaving_," he said again.

"I'm not going with you," she said firmly.

"_You_ do not get to make decisions anymore," he told her.

"When have I ever made a decision? You and Stefan do that for me," she said, getting really angry. She needed him to get the hell out of there right away. "Now this, this is my decision."

"And who's gonna save your life while you're out making _decisions?"_

"You're not listening to me Damon. I don't want to be saved. Not if it means that Klaus is going to kill every single person I love," she said, trying to reason with him.

"Get your ass out the door before I throw you over my shoulder and carry you out myself," he said angrily, grabbing her arm.

_What the hell is wrong with this chick? Is she trying to fucking drive me insane. She doesn't want to be saved, too damn bad. Klaus is not going to touch her. Not one hair on her head._

"No," she said, struggling. She tried to punch him, but that was a complete failure. He caught her fist and practically crushed it within his hand.

"Don't _ever_ do that again," he said, trying to reign in his anger. It wasn't so much that she tried to punch him that was driving him nuts, it's that she was fighting him so that she could let someone kill her.

Damon backed away from her when he looked at her face. She looked scared. He didn't want to scare her. But dammit, her being scared of him was a hell of a lot better than her being dead.

o-o-o-o-o-o

"Oooh, something's happening," Katherine said, coming back up to the front of the tomb, lugging Jeremy alongside her.

"Bonnie, no," Jeremy said, seeing Bonnie chanting over the grimoire. "You have to stop her," he told Stefan. "She's not strong enough," he said to Stefan frantically.

"Or maybe she is," Katherine said, watching with interest.

On the other side of town Luka was in pain. Bonnie was channelling him.

Bonnie kept chanting even though she felt herself growing weaker. Blood started to come out of her nose.

"Bonnie, you need to stop," Stefan told her.

She tried to push Stefan away. She was doing this. She was going to get Jeremy out of that stupid tomb and away from that bitch. But she couldn't hold out anymore, not even drawing on Luka's power. She collapsed.

"Bonnie, wake up please," Stefan said worriedly. "Bonnie wake up. Bonnie," he repeated.

"Yes. Please. Because I'm still in here," Katherine said in an annoyed tone.

Bonnie opened her eyes and Stefan helped her up. "You alright?" he asked her.

"It didn't work?" Bonnie practically whimpered. "I'm not strong enough," she said, furious with herself. "Even with help, I can't do it," she said. She was crying.

"That's too bad," Katherine taunted, propping Jeremy up again. She'd have a little fun and drink deep from Jeremy. "I'm still hungry," she said, tossing her head back, getting ready to bite down.

_I've got to get him out of there. She really might kill him._

Before Katherine could sink her teeth into Jeremy again, Stefan had rushed into the tomb, shoving Katherine away from Jeremy and shoving Jeremy out of the tomb.

Bonnie scrambled towards Jeremy and then pulled him close to her.

Stefan did it. He had to. And now he was stuck in the tomb with Katherine. Katherine looked extremely pleased.

"This is gonna be so awesome," Katherine laughed. "Hi love," she said, giving Stefan a wink.

Bonnie felt like she was going to pass out. Stefan could not be in there with her. Elena would freak, and Stefan did not deserve to be stuck down there. This was all her fault- because she wasn't strong enough and because Jeremy was stubborn as hell.

"Stefan, I'm so sorry," Bonnie choked out. "I'll get you out. Just give me some time, okay? I'll find a way."

"Bonnie, it's okay. This isn't your fault. Don't worry about it. I'll be fine. You do not do anything right now, okay? Seriously, please go get some rest. That clearly took a lot out of you. I don't want you to hurt yourself... Jeremy, I know you meant well, I know you thought you could save Bonnie some trouble but seriously, from now on you have to stick to the plans or you can't be a part of this. You think you did her a favour, you wanted to do her a favour, but you actually did her a disservice. Bonnie agreed to what we were going to do. There was time for her to prepare for it, but she wasn't prepared for the extra stress of trying to get you out of here, away from this one," he said pointing at Katherine. "She was worried about you and that affected how she could use her powers. Bonnie isn't superwoman. She's strong, but I know she's got her limits too, Jeremy. If it was too much for her, we would have found another way. It's not like I want Bonnie getting hurt- she's my friend."

"Awww, Stefan," Katherine said mockingly.

"Just shut up," Stefan told her, annoyed.

"You guys should get out of here. Go relax or something. Try to figure out a way to tell Elena about this in the least bad sounding way possible. She doesn't need another thing to worry about," Stefan said.

Jeremy just nodded. Stefan was right.

"Stefan," Bonnie said, before she and Jeremy left.

"Yeah?"

"I'll bring you some stuff down here. Try to make it suck less for the time that you need to be in there."

"Thanks," Stefan said. "But just send Damon or something. I mean it, you should seriously get some rest."

Bonnie gave him a nod as they walked out.

"Get comfy gorgeous. You're gonna be down here for awhile, Stefan," Katherine smirked

o-o-o-o-o-o-o-

"Time to go," Damon said, annoyed. "Alice is soundly sleeping and won't remember a _moment_ of this horribly stupid day."

Elena, Rose, and Damon all turned when the doors opened and three men walked in.

"We're here to meet the doppelganger," one of them said.

"Thank you for coming," Elena said, trying to get a bit closer to them.

Damon blocked her from moving any closer. "I will break your arm," he warned.

At this point didn't care that he was threatening her and he actually wished that she was afraid of him right now. Afraid would mean that she'd listen and stop trying to get herself killed.

"There's nothing here for you," Damon told the men.

And then one of the men fell to the ground. Elijah was there.

Damon's eyes widened. _Just fucking great!_

Rose fled the scene. She was gone within the blink of an eye.

"I killed you. You were dead," Damon said, sounding annoyed. But he was actually worried.

"For centuries now," Elijah answered. "Who are you?" he asked the two men who remained standing. And they asked him the same thing.

"I'm Elijah," he answered them simply.

The men or vampires actually, looked a bit scared. "We were gonna bring her to you," he said, adjusting his tone, since he now knew who he was talking to. "For Klaus. She's the doppelganger. I don't know how she exists, but she does. Klaus will want to see her."

"Does anyone else know that you're here?" Elijah asked.

"No," he replied.

"Well then, you have been incredibly helpful," Elijah said before literally ripping their hearts out.

Elena's jaw dropped at the disgusting scene.

Damon got ready to fight, but instead of fight, Elijah left. Elena and Damon were both pretty confused by this. And then Elena's heart sunk a little bit. She'd done all of this for nothing. Damon was here and he was going to take her back and Elijah left. Klaus would still come for her, but the next time he really probably would kill them all.

_No. This cannot have been for nothing. I need to find Klaus. I need to make a deal. I can't let him hurt anyone I love._

"Come on crazy one," Damon said, taking hold of her arm. "We're leaving. Do _not_ fight me on this. I am _not_ in a good mood."

o-o-o-o-o-

Bonnie and Jeremy walked back to the Gilbert house in near silence, the only thing being said was Bonnie telling him that he was going home first. Bonnie wanted to yell at him, wanted to slap him, wanted to tell him he was an idiot, but she knew he felt like crap already so she just tried to keep her mouth shut.

When they walked through the doors to the Gilbert house, Jeremy finally spoke. "I'm home, okay. I don't need an escort to my room," he told her.

And then Bonnie couldn't keep her mouth shut anymore. "I don't know, between here and upstairs there's still time for you to do something stupid."

"I already feel bad. I don't need you to berate me," he said.

Bonnie felt a little bit bad, but she would not relent. This guy had been so stupid, and all for her. "Stefan is stuck in there, and I don't know how to get him out. What _should_ I be doing?"

"You should admit that you never should have tried this in the first place," he said.

"I didn't have a choice Jeremy," she said angrily.

"Yeah, well neither did I," he said.

"Why did you have to get involved?"

"Cuz I didn't want you to get hurt," he told her, looking straight in her eyes.

_No. No, no, no, no. No! You're stupid, Jeremy. You cannot be falling for me. This is not allowed. This is not good for you. I'll only end up ruining you. You stupid, sweet, idiot. Why do you have to look at me like that? Don't make this harder for me._

"You-Jeremy," she said, struggling for words. "You can't feel that way about me.

"Don't," he told her, their eyes locked.

"What?" she asked him quietly.

"Don't act like this is one-sided. Like I'm some kid that has a crush on his sister's friend," he said, taking a step closer to her. "You could have died today," he told her, moving even closer, placing his hand on her face.

_No. We cannot do this Jeremy. You need to move back so I can think straight. You need to stop looking at me like that. You need to stop touching me. Why are you doing this to yourself? Why are you doing this to me? We shouldn't be feeling these things._

"And you almost did," Bonnie managed to say.

"It was a chance I was willing to take," he told her and then he leaned in to kiss her.

"We can't," she said weakly with a shake in her voice, moving back a little. "I can't," she said, a little stronger, a little bit more firm.

And then he took his hand a way.

"I'm sorry," she told him. And she was. And she headed for the door. She looked back quickly one more time before quickly exiting.

Bonnie walked as fast as she could, she finally took a second and stopped about a block away to take a few deep breaths, and wipe her eyes. Stupid tears.

_Stupid idiot. Why the hell did he have to do that, to say that? Can't he freakin' tell that I've been trying to keep things from getting to a point like this? Can't he tell I've been trying not to fall for him? Stupid kid. Why'd he have to look so damn hurt? Why doesn't he realize that this shit is hurting me too? Does he not get that there's no way anything could ever happen between us, that I wouldn't risk my friendship with Elena, that I'm messed up and that he doesn't need to be with someone screwed up when he's doing better?_

Bonnie shook her head. She needed to get this out of her head. She needed to get everything out of her head for a little while. She needed to forget Stefan was stuck in the tomb, she needed to forget that an ancient vampire would probably be coming to town soon enough and want to kill them all and sacrifice her best friend.

If they weren't in the middle of a whole bunch of crap, getting drunk would have sounded like a prefect idea, the perfect way to clear her head. But she couldn't do that. She wanted to talk to someone, needed to talk to someone- but she wasn't in the mood for a conversation all at the same time.

Bonnie just kept on walking, she didn't care where she ended up, she only knew that she wasn't ready to go back home yet.

o-o-o-o-o-o-o-

"Thank you for bringing me home," Elena said to Damon, trying not to sound too pissed off.

"Well, your ride left you. I didn't want to leave you stranded," Damon told her.

"She was just scared. She didn't mean to run," Elena said, talking about Rose.

"Yes she did. She's been running for 500 years."

"I can't believe Elijah's alive. Why do you think he killed those two vampires and just let us go?" Elena asked.

"If I had a dollar for every time some evil vampire surprised me," Damon said, Katherine popping immediately to mind.

Elena was about to walk into her house, but Damon grabbed her arm and turned her towards him. "What you did today was extremely stupid," he told her.

"Actually, the only thing that was stupid was that I got caught," she said, pulling her arm out of his grasp. "I don't question why you and Stefan and everyone else tires so hard to save me. You shouldn't question why I would try to save all of you. Damon, goodnight, okay?" Elena said, tired, as Jeremy opened the door.

"What?" Damon said, at seeing Jeremy.

And then Jeremy explained what had happened.

Elena dashed off immediately to go see Stefan.

_He can't be stuck in there. We have to get him out. He can't be stuck in there with her. Maybe if I was here this wouldn't have happened._

"Stefan? Stefan!" she yelled. She didn't care, she was going to run right into the tomb. But then Damon was there all of a sudden and of course he stopped her.

He grabbed her and shoved her against the cave wall. "Don't you dare," he warned.

"Stefan's in there, Damon. How could you let this happen?" she said angrily.

"What are you talking about? I was too busy saving _you_ from your crazy kamikaze mission."

"You didn't even have to go after the moonstone in the first place," she said, mad.

"It was the right call, Elena," he shot back.

"Right call? How is any of this the right call?"she said, pounding on his chest, trying to move away. "Damon, let go of me," she demanded. "Damon let go of me. Let go of me," she yelled, trying to push him away. "Let go of me- please," she said, drained.

"You done?" Damon asked her calmly, before finally letting her go.

He blocked her way into the tomb in case she tried to rush in there again. She gave him a dirty look and finally left.

Damon just shook his head. This girl was going to be the death of him. She was making him insane. After a second or two he turned his attention to the tomb.

"Of all the idiot plans, Stefan," he said, not knowing whether to just laugh or sigh. "I'll find a way to get you out," he told his brother.

"It's alright. I'll- I'll handle myself. Bonnie has the moonstone- work with her. Try to figure out how to de-spell it."

"You martyr yourself into a tomb and I get partnered with a semi-competent witch. Wonderful," he said, actually hoping to get a laugh out of his younger brother.

"Keep Elena away from here," Stefan told him.

"Yeah, cuz that'll be easy," Damon said sarcastically.

"Promise me," Stefan said. "No matter what happens, you'll protect her."

"I promise," Damon said before making his exit.

"That right there was the biggest mistake you ever," Katherine said to Stefan.

He turned to look at her and just went further into the tomb without saying a word to her.

Katherine smirked. This was going to be fun. She'd have him naked and remembering why he used to be so crazy about her in no time, she hoped.

o-o-o-o-o-o-

Damon called Caroline.

"Damon," she answered. "This better be important, I'm about to relax."

"Well, come relax at Elena's. I want someone stronger than her in this house right now so that she can't get another stupid idea tonight and try to run away and get herself killed."

"What the hell?" Caroline said, practically yelling on the other end of the phone.

"I've got some business to take care of with your witchy friend. Hurry up and get to Elena's. I don't have time to explain things. Oh and why the hell isn't Bonnie answering her phone?"

"Maybe because she saw that it was you calling," Caroline laughed smugly.

"Haha, and potentially a good point," Damon admitted, annoyed. "Could you just call her then and find out where she is so I can meet her."

"Okay, I'll call you back," Caroline said hanging up.

_This is gonna be interesting. Just me and the witch working together. I wonder how many dirty looks I'll get from her tonight. I wonder if she's going to hate me forever. I've got to admit though, she's been keeping the hating to a minimum which is kind of amazing since I know she can never let go of my ties to her grandmother dying._

Katherine and Elena, the only two women he'd ever loved were both the reason for Bonnie's hatred for him and Bonnie's tolerance of him. He came back to Mystic Falls to essentially get Katherine out of the tomb, and from his coming back to the town there'd been deaths and he had even tried to cause hers, well not hers, he'd been a rage and Emily had taken over Bonnie's body. That had been meant for Emily, but that didn't change the fact that he'd taken a chunk of Bonnie's throat out. Then of course the actual tomb debacle- which resulted in her grandmother dying. He wouldn't admit it, but she had every reason to hate him. He couldn't even blame her for it.

Elena though, everybody loved Elena. He had to thank Bonnie's love for Elena for Bonnie not setting him on fire and trying to kill him. Elena was their common ground. Elena made everyone a little nicer. He knew Elena didn't feel the same way that he did, he knew she cared about him, which was more than he probably deserved after all the shit that he's done, but he was just her friend. He wanted her to be more, but somewhere along the way, even just having her friendship, made him try to be less of an ass. He would never admit this, though.

If Elena loved you in any form, within their little Mystic Falls crew lately, it was the key to your survival or sanity. People would hold in their urge to kill or hurt you and even reign themselves in a bit when trying to bother and annoy each other.

Damon picked up his ringing phone. Caroline was calling him back. "Where is she?" he asked.

"I called her house and cell phone. There was no answer. I even ran by her house quick. She's not there either. Do I need to be worried, Damon?"

"No worries, I'll find the witch. Just get to Elena's," he said.

"Open the door," she said. "I'm already here."

"Hey Barbie, I keep forgetting you're all speedy-speedy now. Seriously, do not let Elena leave... Where would Judgey go this late, any ideas?" Damon asked.

"What are you asking about Bonnie?" Jeremy said, seemingly popping out of nowhere.

"Go away," Damon said, annoyed.

"Is something wrong with Bonnie?" Jeremy said, ignoring Damon.

Caroline just smiled and Damon looked like he'd just hit a realization. "I guess that explains that now."

"What explains what? What the hell are you talking about? Where's Bonnie? Is she okay?" Jeremy said again.

"This one, is by far, the best one. She's definitely the sanest one so far, even though she _has_ tried to kill me, and I won't knock the other two in the looks department, but Bennet's definitely the hottest of the girls you've fallen for. It might actually work for you cuz I don't see Judgey dying anytime soon," Damon said.

Damon was pretty sure Jeremy wanted to punch him, but Caroline beat him to it. "Insensitive asshole," she hissed, shoving him out the door.

"He does not know how to talk to people. Just ignore him," Caroline told Jeremy.

"Easier said than done," Jeremy said.

"I called you and Bonnie from days ago," Caroline said with a grin.

"There is no me and Bonnie. She doesn't want that," Jeremy said, skulking away.

_Awww, look at him! Jeremy's totally into Bonnie. Poor kid's crushed. Note to self, grill Bonnie about this Jeremy thing and find out when the hell she picked up the ability to crush his little heart. _

"Have you heard from Bonnie?" Elena asked coming down the stairs. "I tried calling her but there's no answer. I want to make sure she's alright. I know she got pretty drained tonight."

"I tried calling her and I ran by her house, but she's not there," Caroline said.

Elena looked like she was going to start to panic.

"She's fine, Elena. Don't worry about it. If anything was wrong, she'd find a way to contact us. And plus, Damon's going to look for her anyway- so even if there was trouble there won't be when he gets there."

"You know what I want, Caroline? I want Stefan out of the tomb. I don't want Bonnie to have to overwork herself, I want you to be here right now just to hang out and not to make sure I don't leave the house. I wish my brother didn't try to be a hero. I wish Damon didn't call you to keep an eye on me. I just want everything to be okay. I want to stop being a burden. I wish you all understood how much I love you. I wish you'd all just let me give myself to Klaus so I can stop ruining your lives. And don't tell me that I'm not ruining your lives- because I am and I'm sorry for it," Elena said, voice starting to shake.

"Shut up," Caroline said gently, pulling Elena towards her and grabbing her in a hug. "And tell me exactly what the hell happened today."

o-o-o-o-o-

Stefan was not talking to her. He was lying down with his eyes closed. Every word she said, he would ignore. She sat down on the other side of the tomb and just stared at him for awhile, thinking back to the days when he would talk to her for hours, when he would always have a smile ready for her, when he had loved her.

If she was less of a bitch, she'd go shake him awake and tell him to talk to her because she missed hearing his voice. If she hadn't hardened herself up so much she'd go over to him, one more time, and tell him how much she loved him, and remind him of what they used to have and tell him that he was supposed to be with her. Instead, she would keep her mouth shut. She'd keep playing the bitch card, because the last time she got sentimental with him he'd just threw it in her face. That hadn't lessened her love, it just reverted her back to her normal ways. Things were easier when you kept your heart out of it. She lived most of her life that way, but Stefan had the tendency of making her bring her heart in and right now, her heart was hurting like hell.


	5. Chapter 5

0-o-0-o-0-o-0-o-0 Hey everyone. I'm back with a new chapter. There hasn't been any confusion thus far to my knowledge, but I'll clarify anyone, just so everyone knows for sure. Italics indicate what someone is thinking or a memory. I want to say thanks SO MUCH to those who have reviewed. I really appreciate it. More people are reading the story and apparently liking it than are reviewing according to the review alerts I've been getting. I'd love to hear from everyone who reads. I know life is busy and crazy, but if you could spare an extra minute to let me know if you're enjoying the story I'd absolutely love it and appreciate it very much. It's helpful to know that people are enjoying.

I really hope you enjoy this chapter. It's definitely the longest one so far lol. It's set around the episode "By the Light of the Moon." If some bits of dialogue are familiar, you'd recognize it from the episode. Once again, thanks for the support so far. Continue letting me know what you think with a review and if you guys do, I'm planning on having another chapter up anywhere from 1-4 days from now. Enjoy 0-o-0-o-0-o-0-o-0

"_Which of them do you prefer, Stefan?" Katherine said, popping out of nowhere, whispering in his ear._

"_What?" he asked._

"_Which of those girls do you prefer?" Katherine asked, pointing to the little crowd of about five girls gathered not far from Stefan. "I think you've got some admirers among that group."_

"_I have no preference. I have no interest in any of them," he told her._

"_I'm happy to hear it," Katherine said with a smile. "Because I will not share you."_

"_You won't share me, yet _I _have to share you," Stefan sighed._

"_Yes, but _you're _my favourite, you know?" she said, whispering in his ear again. "You're _very _special to me."_

_He tired to smile._

"_My sweet, sweet Stefan, won't you smile for me, a real smile?" Katherine said, caressing his cheek. "Please?"_

_And how could he not smile if it was her asking? How could he not smile when her hand touched his face? He would do just about anything if she asked him to. How could he not smile when he was looking at her? She was a thing of beauty, a smile was a natural reaction to looking at her._

"_Much better," she said, kissing the lips that just smiled._

"Say something. This is boring, Stefan," Katherine complained, sitting across from him.

He kept his mouth shut. This wasn't 1864 anymore. Things were not the same for Stefan and Katherine as they were before. He loved someone else. Katherine wasn't going to get what she asked for, even if it was simply conversation.

o-o-o-o-o-o-o-

Bonnie walked and walked, not having any destination in mind, not caring where she ended up. She just thought that walking might clear her head. When she eventually stopped, she found that she had ended up in the cemetery. She smiled to herself. Of course she'd end up here. Grams was here.

Bonnie sat down in front of her grandmother's headstone. It was late and dark and no one was around so Bonnie just started to speak. She needed to actually get stuff out.

"Hey Grams. I'm sorry I haven't been here in awhile. I miss you, though. It's been crazy around here. Life and death situations everyday, people falling for people you would not expect. Working with those you used to have a major hate-on for. Yep, that's Mystic Falls. I'm kind of freaking out, especially tonight.

_Damn, I'm good. I found the witch._

Damon had found Bonnie. He had no idea where to look initially and then he just kind of went with his gut. He figured that she was probably stressed about the Stefan situation and stupid Jeremy getting feasted on by Katherine. Also, she was probably still generally freaking out over the whole Elena situation thing. She probably would have wanted to talk to someone but wouldn't have wanted Elena to get any more worried. And if Elena knew Bonnie was freaking and stressing out there's no way she wouldn't be worried. Those two were always looking out for each other. What better place to go than to her grandmother. She could vent and she'd probably end up feeling better. Yeah, Damon could be perceptive sometimes.

He didn't think it would be a good idea to announce his presence right now, seeing as Bonnie had just started to recount all the craziness to her dead grandmother. She'd probably accuse him of following her or something and "accidentally" set him on fire. So he shoved his hands in his pockets and remained silent and unseen in the shadows.

"You know who's in the tomb right now, grams? Katherine. Yep, the bitch Damon was so whipped for is in the tomb- and guess who put her there? Damon. Yep, that's what I said... When I think about that, and I try not to because that's probably the best place for her, I can't help but go back and I get furious all over again," Bonnie said, sighing.

"Because Elena's a good soul and because Stefan still loved his brother and cuz I love Elena- you and I brought down the seal and you died Grams- and it all goes back to Damon and to stupid Katherine ... I've been working with Damon a lot recently, and sometimes, not recently though, I'd just look at him and I'd remember you weren't here with me anymore and then I'd want to kill him. All that rage and pain would come back and I felt like I'd do anything to not have to see his face again. It's been hard. Sometimes I feel like the biggest battle I'm fighting is with myself... I think I'm just ranting now. Damon's actually not that bad anymore. He's really helping with trying to keep Elena safe. He's still a cocky, annoying bastard, but he hasn't been bad to me. I don't really think he's been doing much of anything that's bad actually, which is good because I don't particularly want to have end him. He did so many bad things before and I truly, truly, had wanted him to die for awhile, but I don't think I hate him anymore. I don't think I've hated him in awhile.

"He loves Elena and he wants to keep her safe and that seems to have become what he's about- and if he's not doing bad things and he's trying to keep her safe, then I can't let myself hate him anymore... Sometimes I feel like Elena and Caroline are all I have left Grams- I know it sounds bad, but dad doesn't know me and he's never here, and mom- who the hell even knows where that stupid woman is? She never gave a shit about me. For a long time my heart's been pretty much with three people: you, Elena and Caroline. You're gone, and it's taking me time with Caroline. I still love her very much, but it's taking me a bit of time to get used to everything. I won't let anyone hurt her and I know that I'll get back to the point where Caroline is my best friend just like Elena again, we're doing well, we're getting there again but right now everything is just nuts- it's like Elena's what's keeping me from going crazy- and if Damon loves her too and if he's gonna make sure nothing happens to her, then I will co-exist with him gladly.

"I think he's sorry for what happened to you. I've done some pretty bad stuff to him and I can't say this out-loud to anyone, but he didn't deserve it. I tried to kill him. I honestly think I would have left him burning that day if Elena hadn't made me stop. What I was mad at him for, he didn't even do. He would have had every right to come back at me and attack me, but he didn't. Maybe he's not sorry about you, maybe it's just the same thing I had at first- a reigning in of my hate and my wants because of Elena. Maybe it's just that Elena would never forgive him if he did anything to me. But I actually think he's sorry.

"Damon's not the problem right now though. The only problem with him is with me. I feel like the hate is gone, and he doesn't even bother me all that much anymore. There's so much craziness that I'm getting used to working with him. And then I start to think, what would I call him? An ally, I guess. I can't call him an enemy anymore- and then when I think that, I start freaking out, because for so long hating him, and him being the enemy was something that I was sure of. It made sense. It doesn't make sense anymore. I don't hate him. I don't even want to. I haven't even wanted to give him one of my famous aneurisms in the past day or two. It's just that sometimes I feel like I should," she said.

Damon put a hand over his mouth to keep from laughing.

"Like I said though, me and him are on the same side and I don't feel like I hate him- I guess that I'll just have to keep telling myself that we have a common interest when my stupid head decides to throw stupid thoughts of what I should be feeling at me... You're probably wondering why I haven't mentioned Stefan. For awhile I was just as mad at him as I was with Damon. But Stefan's always been good to me. He's always tried to be a friend. He apologized to me, even when I was a bitch to him after you passed. He was still nice to me even when I wasn't to him. He's been a good friend, a good guy. I couldn't really hate him for too long. He's actually one of the reasons why I'm freaking out so bad tonight. He's stuck in the tomb with Katherine and it's pretty much my fault," she said.

Why would she be blaming herself for this? It wasn't her fault Stefan was in there. It was ding-dong Jeremy's.

"Well let's be honest, it's mostly Jeremy's fault- stupid idiot," Bonnie sighed.

Damon covered his mouth again, not wanting to be heard laughing.

"Jeremy's got a thing for me. He really likes me and God help me, I like him too- stupid kid. He's so stupid Grams. Jeremy freakin' Gilbert wants to be my hero now, or something. Just cuz he saw me pass out once after a spell, he thinks he needs to be my protector. Ya sure, it sounds sweet, but what it actually is, is really annoying. I'm no damsel in distress. Let's be honest, in life he's in far more danger of being in distress than I am."

Damon smirked.

"Me and Stefan and Damon were gonna get something from the tomb. Well, I was gonna do my thing and they were gonna go in and get it from Katherine. Jeremy seems to think that any spell I do is gonna drain me, so he came up with the genius plan to go down and get it from Katherine himself. Yeah, little human Jeremy Gilbert goes down there. Sure, granted, he had his ring and the ash, but still. He goes down there to Katherine- Katherine who was throwing Damon and Stefan around with ease. Katherine who could freakin' kill him with her eyes closed and an arm and leg tied behind her back. He goes down there where she is for _me._

"He risks her killing him all so I don't drain myself. He went down there and she caught him before he got out. When me and Stefan got down there we saw that she'd got him. His blood was on her lips. He looked like he could barely stand. I wanted to kill her. I was freaking out for Jeremy, so I got all thrown off. I couldn't bring down the seal so that Stefan could get in and get Jeremy out. I'm so pissed at Jeremy and myself, because in the end, Stefan had to run into the tomb and shove off Katherine to get Jeremy out. He's stuck in there, Grams, and he doesn't deserve it. And now Elena's gonna be even more stressed. I don't want her worrying about anything else," Bonnie said.

"I should have been stronger. I should have done something to somehow discourage Jeremy from developing feelings for me. If he wasn't into me he never would have gone into the stupid tomb... I'm pretty sure I've discouraged him for good now, though. He tried to kiss me tonight, but I didn't let it happen. I told him that couldn't feel the way he was feeling about me. He's got it bad for me, Grams. I'd love to say that I don't feel anything back, but that's a lie. I really like him. He's sweet and he's good to me. But he's younger, and Elena's _brother_. He was pretty messed up for awhile and he's doing better. Being with me wouldn't be good for him. He should be with a normal girl. He should have some part of his life that isn't clouded with this supernatural bullshit... It kinda feels good to say all of that," Bonnie said, taking a breath. "I don't know what to do right now, Grams. I wish you were here so bad. I really miss you."

Damon thought it would be okay to come around now. Bonnie seemed to be done.

"Judgey, please tell me that you're here because I'm not in the mood to keep searching for you and because I have no ideas left on where the hell else you'd be," Damon called out, making it seem like he just arrived.

"I'm here," Bonnie said, wondering why he was looking for her. "Was I supposed to meet you or something?"

"Yes Bennett, you were. We've got moonstone and Stefan business to talk about."

"Sorry," Bonnie mumbled. "My head's all over the place. I forgot," she said, no venom in her voice, just exhaustion.

Damon took a closer look at Bonnie. She looked tired, legitimately worn out and then Damon felt a bit bad for her.

"Did it clear your head?" he asked her.

"What?" she said.

"I assume you came here to see Sheila. Did it help to clear your head?"

Bonnie looked at him awkwardly for a minute. "A bit, yeah," she finally said.

"Good," Damon said.

Bonnie looked confused. He was being nice. It was weird.

Damon looked at Bonnie who was tired and confused and sad and decided that he would tell her what he had wanted to say for awhile, what she's probably been needing to hear. He _was _sorry that Sheila had died, but he and Bonnie had pretty much been at war before, so he kept the apology to himself and if anything, he would usually act like an ass instead.

"You probably won't believe me, but really, I _am_ sorry about her," he blurted out.

Bonnie was honestly surprised. She really hadn't expected that. She knew Elena had a good effect on Damon, but apparently it was better than Bonnie had thought. Damon could still feel remorse and that was a good thing, She didn't really know what to say or what she should say, so she just nodded, acknowledging that she heard him. She did not want to talk about her grandmother with him, though, she couldn't. It still stung.

"Have you gone down to see Stefan yet?" Bonnie asked, moving the subject in a different direction.

"Yup," Damon said, thankful that that was over. He did not do apologies well."He wants us to focus on de-spelling that stupid rock. We'll figure out how to get him out later."

Bonnie just nodded.

"No offense witchy, but you look like crap. Maybe we can do this in the morning. You look like you need some sleep."

"Look like crap and feel like crap," Bonnie mumbled.

"Which way are we heading Bon-Bon?" Damon asked her.

"We?"

"Yes, we. I heard about your shitty night. I know someone's powers aren't exactly fully charged at the moment, so consider this as being my good deed. Your house or Elena's?"

"You're gonna walk me home, Damon?" Bonnie asked, laughing a bit.

"Yes I am," he said dramatically.

"You know everything's gone to shit when Damon insists on walking Bonnie home," Bonnie laughed tiredly.

Damon just smirked. "Alright Judgey one, let's get you home."

"I don't need an escort Damon," Bonnie said tiredly.

"Your witchy powers aren't working so well right now. It's dark. Creepy things and people roam around in the dark. We don't need you having a run-in with any of them-a couple reasons for this being _my _safety and sanity. I don't need Elena and Caroline hating on me and trying to kill me, thank you very much."

Bonnie just laughed.

"Alright, move your legs. Chop chop. Let's get going, Bennett"

"Shut up Damon, I'm tired."

"So Bon-Bon, I've learned some interesting things tonight," Damon said with a smirk.

"Uggh," Bonnie groaned. "And what would these things happen to be?" she asked, already having a feeling she knew what he was going to say.

"I've been wondering why the little Gilbert has been following you around like a puppy," Damon started.

Bonnie put her head in her hand.

"You and Jeremy Gilbert," Damon said, smirking.

"There is no me and Jeremy."

"Oh but he wants there to be," Damon said, amused.

"Yeah, well, people don't always get what they want."

"Has Bon-Bon fallen for the littlest Gilbert too?" Damon asked.

"Drop it, Salvatore."

"Kid's worried about you. He kept asking if you were okay," Damon told her.

"He always falls for the wrong girls," Bonnie sighed.

"I'd have to disagree with you there," Damon said as they walked.

"Oh really? Do you forget how things turned out with Anna and Vicki?"

"Oh no, no. I remember that perfectly well," he replied.

"Well, then-"

"I think he made a good choice in falling for you this time," Damon said, shrugging his shoulders.

Bonnie raised her eyebrow and Damon just laughed.

"You annoy the hell out of me sometimes, which you will not be offended about because I know I do the same to you, but I can give you credit where it's due, Judgey," Damon said with a wink.

"And the sky is gonna fall down in 3,2,1..." Bonnie said.

Damon just chuckled.

It didn't take long to get to Bonnie's house.

"And here we are. Casa de Bennett."

"Sleep time," Bonnie said.

"Alright witchy, call me when you wake up so we can talk about this super fun moonstone business," Damon said, walking away.

"Damon," Bonnie said.

"Hmm?"

"Th- Goodnight." She almost wanted to say thank you, but she couldn't get it off her lips.

Damon smirked. "You're welcome Judgey one," he said.

o-o-o-o-o-

Bonnie showed up at the Gilbert house bright and early after discussing moonstone and Elena business with Damon. Elena and Caroline were sleeping when she got there. Jenna had headed out early and Jeremy was the only one awake. Yep, awkward.

"Hey," she said.

"Hi."

"Can I come in?" she asked.

"Yeah, of course," he told her.

"Thanks."

"You're gonna act like nothing happened last night, aren't you," he sighed.

"Yes I am, because _nothing happened_ last night," she told him, not looking at him while she said it. "Between Damon and Elena's recounting of the events last night and Caroline telling me that our best friend has gone nuts, I learned all about your sister's suicidal mission to find Klaus. We can't let her try something like that again, so I'm gonna make sure that it _can't _happen again. I'm gonna do a spell to keep her here, inside."

"Bu-"

"Don't start with any objections, Jeremy," Bonnie said. "This is getting done."

"Is there anything I could help you with, then?" Jeremy asked.

"Yeah," she told him.

"I'll help you however I can, whenever you need me to," he said, looking her straight in the eye.

_Maybe it's going to be a little harder to completely discourage him than I thought._

o-o-o-o-o-o-

Bonnie waved to Caroline as the blonde headed out. Caroline had stayed with Elena last night because Damon didn't want there to be any way Elena could sneak out again.

"Now that you've got this back. What're you gonna do with it?" Elena asked Bonnie, about the moonstone.

"Right now, it's what's binding the sun and moon curse. If I can figure out a way to remove the spell from the stone, then the stone becomes useless," Bonnie told her.

"And according to Katherine, Klaus becomes vengeful," Elena reminded.

"Maybe," Bonnie said. "If he finds out."

"Bonnie, can't this wait? Stefan is stuck in the tomb with Katherine. We've go to get him out."

"Stefan wants me to focus on this," Bonnie reminded Elena.

"Well, don't listen to him. He thinks that he's protecting me, but he's wrong."

"I'm taking Stefan's side with this one. We're not gonna let you get used in some _creepy _sacrifice ritual," Bonnie said, taking the moonstone back from Elena.

"What are you guys arguing about?" Jeremy asked, walking into the room.

"We're not arguing about anything," Bonnie answered, turning towards Jeremy. She gave him a look as she put the moonstone into her purse. He looked at what she was doing and understood.

"I need a coffee," Bonnie said, leaving the room, not taking her purse with her.

Jeremy took a long look at his sister. "Why are you on some suicide mission?"

"I'm trying to prevent everyone else from getting hurt," Elena explained.

"So bringing Klaus the moonstone so you can get yourself killed is okay?" Jeremy asked, exasperated. He understood her logic, he actually did, but he did not accept what she wanted to do. He wasn't going to let his sister just go get herself killed.

He left the room because he didn't know what to say to her right now, and also to see if she would try to take the moonstone from Bonnie's purse, which in the end, she did.

Bonnie came out of the kitchen stirring her coffee as Elena came down the stairs.

"Where are you going?" Bonnie asked Elena.

"Umm, to see Stefan," Elena said, pretty sure Bonnie would see through her pathetic lie.

"You're lying," Bonnie said.

"No I'm not."

"Really?" Bonnie said. "Tell your face."

'I'm lying' was practically written all over Elena's face. She wasn't a good liar when it came to Bonnie.

"Are you serious?" Elena asked her, a little annoyed.

"She took the moonstone," Jeremy said to Bonnie from the top of the stairs.

"How did you-" Elena started.

"We tested you," Bonnie said simply. "You failed."

"Klaus killed Katherine's entire family just because she crossed him. I can't let that happen," Elena said, trying to make them understand.

Bonnie moved out of Elena's way and Elena thought that she'd gotten them to understand. She tried to walk out the door but she couldn't. It was like there was some kind of invisible barrier.

"What did you do?" Elena asked, turning to Bonnie.

"It's for the best, Elena," Bonnie said.

Jeremy looked on, amused, from the top of the stairs.

"Bonnie," Elena said. "Why are you doing this to me?"

"Because I love you," Bonnie said simply. "I'm not gonna let anything happen to you Elena. I don't think you realize what you mean to all of us. We're not going to lose you."

"Why can't you see that I'm just trying to do the same thing as you? Why can't you see I feel the same way?"

"I _can_ see that. But the difference is, while our plan might not end up working out so well, what you want to do- what you think you'll accomplish with Klaus- I _guarantee _that won't work out the way you want it too. You want to keep us all safe and you think you can do that by handing yourself over, but Klaus is not going to leave us alone. All you'll end up accomplishing is getting yourself and us killed all that much sooner. Just forget about this handing yourself over business, please."

"I will if you remove whatever spell thing you put on the house," Elena said.

"Haha, nice try E. That's not happening right now," Bonnie said, laughing a bit.

"Uggh," Elena mumbled.

"Bye Elena. I'll see you later," Bonnie said, tired.

"Bonnie," Elena called out.

"Yeah?"

"Love you too," Elena mumbled.

"Even though you're very annoyed with me?" Bonnie asked with a grin.

"Yes, even though I'm very annoyed with you," Elena answered. "Will you please, for real, do me a favour, though?"

"What do you need Elena?"

"Besides you letting me out of here, which we've already established is not happening right now- could you just take a little time today in between trying to figure out how to de-spell the moonstone and try to relax. I know you're using a lot of magic lately. I don't want you to hurt yourself."

"Don't worry about me," Bonnie said, giving her a smile.

"Listen to her, Bonnie. Take a break at some point," Jeremy said.

"Bye guys," Bonnie said, walking out the door and shutting it behind her.

o-o-o-o-o-o-o-

"You trapped her in the house?" Stefan asked, almost not believing what Damon said.

Damon had come by with some things for Stefan, lunch included. He held out the bottle of blood for Stefan to take.

"If you give that to me, I'm just gonna have to share it with her," Stefan said, referring to Katherine.

"You know, you two are surprisingly calm, considering Klaus will hunt you down and kill you if you mess with his little plan," Katherine said.

"I've been dead before. I got over it," Damon told her. "Once we deal with this moonstone, we'll figure out a way to get you out," he said to Stefan.

"Don't worry about me. Just make sure Elena's safe." Stefan said.

Damon nodded and headed out, but before he could fully leave, Katherine called out. "I guess you guys found the stuff then?" she said, asking about the white-ash wood.

"Don't talk to me," was Damon's response as he made his exit.

Katherine turned to Stefan and gave him a questioning look, wanting him to say something.

He just rolled his eyes and said, "I'm not talking to you. I've got nothing to say."

"_Lovely _ attitude Stefan," Katherine said sarcastically.

They just were determined not to include her in this at all. They were stubborn as hell.

It was fun annoying them, but she wouldn't lie, it hurt to see the hate in Stefan's eyes. What she craved was to see the look in his eyes that he used to have in 1864- when she meant the world to him, when he had loved her.

o-o-o-o-o-o-

"You should really lock your door," Damon said in greeting as he walked into Elena's house. Elena barely glanced at him, making it clear to him that she was very annoyed.

"Oh come on pouty, at least give me two point for ingenuity," he said.

Elena was pissed at him for coming up with this plan with Bonnie to keep her locked in the house. He was amused by how annoyed she was. She was adorable when she was pissed off.

Ignoring the glares she sent him, Damon told her that he went down to see Stefan, knowing she'd want to hear something related to her boyfriend, or technically ex-boyfriend.

Jeremy came down the stairs and Damon turned his head. "Where's Bonnie?" he asked.

"I thought she was meeting you," Jeremy said.

"No, she's on moonstone duty, and I'm on Elena patrol," Damon said.

"And who's on Tyler Lockwood and the full moon?" Jeremy questioned.

"Vampire Barbie asked me if she could handle it and I said why not. Figured if she screwed up, he'd bite her and then I'd be rid of two of my problems," Damon said with a grin.

Elena ignored Damon's idiot comment and said, "hold on a second, tonight's the full moon?"

"Yep, but you're too absorbed with all your suicidal tendencies to notice," he said before answering his ringing phone.

Elena stuck her tongue out at Jeremy when he grinned at how annoyed she was.

"Change of plans," Damon said when he hung up the phone. "You babysit," he told Jeremy.

Jeremy plopped down onto the couch, head landing on the pillow in Elena's lap.

"Hey, you know, you should get out. Enjoy the sun," Damon said to Elena. "Oh wait, you can't," Damon grinned.

Elena picked up a pillow and threw at Damon, very irritated and annoyed, wishing it was something that would hurt, maybe like a coffee mug or something.

This amused both Damon and her brother. Damon headed out as her brother continued laughing.

These guys were driving her crazy. She threw Jeremy off the couch, but couldn't help but laugh when she heard Jeremy's combination of laugh and whimper when he smacked his funny bone against the coffee table.

"You're mean," he said, clearly not mad. He was still amused as hell.

"You deserve it," Elena said, rolling her eyes.

"Okay. What are we doing today?" Jeremy asked.

"You're really gonna stay, aren't you?" Elena asked.

"Yep," Jeremy confirmed.

"Fine, you can tell me when you all had your little meeting or whatever and decided all this stuff about the moonstone and Klaus and who's idea it was not to tell me anything until you all already decided without talking to me first."

"The morning after you went to the hospital. The rest of us didn't want to tell you right away, Caroline was on the fence, and Bonnie was totally against it until I promised we'd tell you, just not on that day. You can't really be too mad with Care and Bonnie."

"I don't like this situation at all Jeremy. Everyone's out risking their necks for me and I don't like that. I wish you'd value your lives a little more."

"That's funny, because that's pretty much how we're feeling about you," he said, poking her in her arm.

Elena just sighed.

"Oh, I know how to make you laugh. I'll be back," Jeremy said, heading upstairs.

This was it. She was just going to have to hope that somehow everything would work out. She wasn't going to be able to get out of here. She wasn't going to be able to find a way to seek out Klaus and offer herself in exchange for the safety of her loved ones. They weren't going to let her, and as much as she hated it because she would much rather she die than they, it was nice to know that she had people who cared so much.

"You're not going to be able to stay annoyed for too long Elena, come on," Jeremy said, waving something in her face.

"What's that?" she asked.

"I got it after I came back from the hospital the night you smacked your head. I got it so you could get some laughs in, but I kind of forgot to give it to you, but I think right now is good timing for it."

"What is it?" she asked again.

He handed her the Season 1 Jersey Shore DVD, and she couldn't help but chuckle a bit. Jersey Shore was brainless fun. It always made her laugh. She had replayed the scene where Jenni punched Mike in the face at least thirty times on the computer and would laugh her head off every single time.

"See, I got you laughing, and the DVD isn't even in the player yet," Jeremy said, happy with the new look on his sister's face. Amused was always better than angry and annoyed.

o-o-o-o-o-o-o-

Bonnie was a little nervous, but she had to see Luka. It was the only thing she could think of to potentially de-spell the moonstone. She knocked on his door and hoped this didn't turn into a total disaster.

Luka opened the door.

"Hi," she said uneasily, holding up his chain

He took it back and said, "I don't know what makes me more upset- that I showed you how to channel, or that you almost killed me."

"Luka, I'm so sorry. I wouldn't have done what I did unless it was really important. It's just that there's things that I-"

"I forgive you," he said, opening up his door in invitation.

Not too long later Luka was agreeing to help her de-spell the moonstone.

o-o-o-o-o-o

"So, we're fasting now? Katherine asked, bored. "We're so pious. How long have you actually gone without blood? I know you get desiccation in theory, Stefan, but in reality it's much worse," she said as she made her way over to him.

He was lying down with his arm over his face.

"Your heart still beats, struggling to pump whatever blood remains. And when its gone, your veins rub together like sandpaper. It's excruciating," she said, tracing her finger from the top of his clothed chest and downwards.

He grabbed her hand, pushed it away and sat up. "The pleasure I'll get watching you suffer is greater than any pain I'll ever feel," he said with a smile.

"It's stuffy. I've been in this dress for days," she said with a smirk. "Wanna help me get out of it?"

He just shook his head and looked down.

"Come on Stefan, don't be such a grump," she said, undoing the dress and letting it fall to her feet. "We're here together," she said, turning to him, clad only in her bra and underwear. "Might as well make the best out of it."

He looked at her but didn't say anything.

"You really think Damon's gonna rush to get you out?" she asked him, getting even closer. "He's got what he wants- Elena," she said, closing even more of the little space that was between them.

"Stop," Stefan said quietly, as thoughts of Damon and Elena now invaded his mind. And now that they were there, he couldn't get them out.

"Hey," she said softly, placing a hand on his chest. "Given what's most certainly going on out there, I'd say you're free to do whatever you want in here. Nobody will ever know," she said, tracing her hand from the back of his neck and then cupping his face for a second before capturing his lips with hers.

He moved his head away, but she grabbed his face again and went in for another kiss. This time he didn't try to stop her. This time he didn't push away. This time he was kissing her back.

Katherine took of his shirt and in a flash Stefan had her against the tomb walls, kissing her furiously.

And then it was over. Stefan shot up. _What the hell was that?_

He saw Katherine in the corner, smirking, still fully dressed. She'd been putting things into his head again, like she'd done months ago.

"Stay out of my head," he warned.

"Maybe I can do eternity in here after all," she said with a smile.

_Give me some time, Stefan and that will go down for real. I_will _have you again. You'll want that again. You'll want me again.._

o-o-o-o-o-o-

Elena nearly dropped what she was holding. Elijah was in her house!

"Hey," he said to Elena, amused. "I'm Elijah."

_No shit you're Elijah. Like I'd ever forget your face. Shit. Shit. Shit. Why is he in my house? This is not good. This is bad. This is really, really bad._

"Elijah's in town doing research on Mystic Falls," Jenna explained.

"It's a pleasure," Elijah said to Elena, still smiling, extending his hand for her to shake.

Elena didn't want to touch him, but she would go along with anything right now to keep him happy and make sure nothing happened to her aunt.

She shook his hand and didn't say a word.

Elena couldn't get over the fact that he was in her house. She didn't even hear what Jenna was saying to him.

"Thank you so much for inviting me into your home, Jenna," Elijah said. "And Elena, I hope to see you again sometime soon," he said as he exited the house.

Elena rushed upstairs, needing to tell Jeremy, but Elijah was there in the blink of an eye. When Jeremy opened his door Elena had to make something up on the spot. She told him Jenna needed help with the boxes, so he headed downstairs.

"Wise choice," Elijah said.

"What do you want?" Elena asked.

"It's time you and I had a little chat."

Elena opened the door to her room and motioned him inside nervously.

"Forgive the intrusion. I mean your family no harm."

"Why did you kill those vampires when they tried to take me?" Elena asked.

"Because I didn't want you to be taken. Klaus is the most feared and hated of the Originals, but those that fear him are desperate for his approval. If word gets out that the doppelganger exists, there'll be a line of vampires eager to take you to him, and I can't have that."

"Isn't that exactly what you're trying to do?" Elena asked him.

"Let's just say that my goal is not to break the curse."

"So what is your goal?" Elena questioned.

"Klaus' obsessions have made him paranoid. He's a recluse. He trusts those only in his immediate circle," Elijah explained.

"Like you?"

"Not anymore," Elijah told her.

"You don't know where he is, do you? So you're trying to use me- to draw him out," Elena said, putting the pieces together.

"Well, to do that I need you to stay put and stop trying to get yourself killed," he said with a grin.

"How do I know you're telling the truth?" she asked.

"Well, if I wasn't being truthful, your family would be dead and I'd be taking you to Klaus right now. Instead, I'm here and I'm prepared to offer you a deal."

"What kind of a deal?"

"Do nothing. Do nothing. Live your life. Stop fighting. And then, when the time is right, you and I shall draw Klaus out together, and I shall make sure your friends remain unharmed," Elijah said.

"And then what?"

"The I kill him."

"Just like that," Elena said.

"Just like that," he confirmed. "I'm a man of my word, Elena. I make a deal, I keep a deal."

"How are you gonna be able to keep everyone safe?" Elena asked, seriously considering this offer. If Elijah was to be trusted this was just about the best thing ever.

"You know, I noticed you have a friend, Bonnie, is it? She seems to possess the gift of magic. I have friends with similar gifts," Elijah said.

"You know witches."

"Together we can protect everybody that matters to you. So do we have a deal?"

"I need you to do one more thing for me," Elena said.

This was a gutsy move, considering he just said that he would keep everyone she cared about safe, she really shouldn't ask him for more, but she was confident, she knew that he needed her as much as she needed him. He'd grant her one more favour.

"We're negotiating now?" Elijah asked, looking amused.

"Just one thing," Elena said.

"What is this one thing?"

"I need you to get my boy- I need you to get Stefan Salvatore out of the tomb that he's stuck in with Katherine Pierce. You said you know witches, you can get them to remove the seal to let him out."

"Why not ask your friend Bonnie?"

"I don't know if you've noticed, but we've all been under a lot of stress around here. If I can spare my friend some extra work, that's what I'll do," Elena said, not telling Elijah that Bonnie had been overdoing it with the magic.

"Okay. Very well Miss Gilbert. We'll have your Mr. Salvatore back to you in a little while. I'll be seeing you around. And remember just go on like normal. Just live your life."

And then he was gone. And Elena wanted to cry. With happiness. She felt like a million pounds had just been taken off of her shoulders. Everything would be okay. They'd all be safe. Stefan would be getting out. Stefan who she loved, Stefan who she missed like crazy.

There was no reason for them to be apart anymore. No reason for her to act distant and try to push him away. No reason why they couldn't love each other freely anymore. There was no reason for them to continue living in pain without each other.

She couldn't wait to see his face again. Elijah had better keep his word.

o-o-o-o-o-o-o

Bonnie was ecstatic right now. She and Luka had just de-spelled the moonstone. She wanted to just scream because she was so happy. She was on her way to tell Elena the good news when her phone rang. It was her dad.

"Hi dad," Bonnie answered.

Bonnie sighed when she hung up the phone. A relative passed away. The funeral was tomorrow. Her dad wanted her to go. It was out of the city so she'd need to go pack some things up. She'd go home and then go see Elena. It wouldn't take long.

As Bonnie packed the stuff she would need for a couple days away her phone rang. It was Elena. That was good since Bonnie was just about to call her. By the end of the phone conversation Bonnie was fuming, happy for Elena and Stefan, but fuming about the other stuff.

Elena had explained to Bonnie that Elijah had some witch friends, and that basically that was how Stefan was getting out of the tomb. Bonnie knew, she just knew that the witches Elena was talking about were Luka and his dad. Bonnie was now nearly 100% sure that they hadn't really de-spelled the moonstone. If they were working with Elijah, Bonnie no longer trusted them- regardless of if Elijah wanted to kill Klaus or not.

Bonnie would bet anything right now that Luka had handed over the moonstone to Elijah. And good-guy or not, there's no way she wanted Elijah, an Original, to have the moonstone.

Bonnie took some deep breaths and tried to calm herself down. She told Elena she'd swing by the Salvatore house to fill Damon in about Stefan since the eldest brother once again was not answering his phone.

On the walk to see Damon, Bonnie kept telling herself not to assume the worst. She tried to convince herself that Elijah helping Elena was what mattered. She tried to tell herself that him having the moonstone did not matter. She kept saying it over and over, hoping that she would start to believe it.

o-o-o-o-o-o-

Damon returned home after a very annoying day. A day that included getting a creepy-ass threat from the female werewolf chick. She'd told him he's been marked. What the hell was that about? Why couldn't there be one day without a whole bunch of crap going down.

As Damon walked in the house he found Rose there waiting. She apologized about bringing Elena to Slater. She hadn't known that Elena intended to hand herself over to Klaus. Damon was not in the best of moods and the apology, though sincere, didn't make him want Rose's company. He did not want anyone's company right now.

And then there was a crash through the window.

Rose spotted what had entered the Salvatore house first. It was a werewolf, and it was going for Damon.

"Damon," she yelled, trying to warn him.

The wolf lunged and Rose pushed Damon out of the way. The wolf attacked her and gave her a gruesome bite. It bit her and then it ran out of the house as Damon stabbed it.

"How bad is it?" Damon asked Rose, looking at the bite.

"It hurts," she said.

"It's healing," Damon said, looking at the bite.

"I thought a werewolf bite was fatal. I, I thought-" Rose said, but before she could finish she found that she was crying.

"You're gonna be okay," Damon said, hugging her.

He had actually been scared for her there for a moment. He went from annoyed with her to extremely worried that she would die in a matter of seconds. She'd kind of become a friend to him, which was not something that happened often. This was getting to be too much for Damon, all these people in his life now, all these chances to make him worry and feel. This wasn't natural for him, but his life had become about these things recently and he didn't really know what to do about it.

o-o-o-o-o-

"_Where exactly are we, Stefan?" Katherine asked with a smile._

"_We're at my favourite place," he told her. "You asked me yesterday if there was somewhere in Mystic Falls that I loved more than any other place. This is it."_

"_It's lovely. Calm and quiet. Seems very peaceful," she said, taking in her surroundings._

"_It's all those things," he said. "Usually I come here when I want to be alone or to clear my head. I've never brought anyone here with me before. I kind of think of this as my spot."_

"_I'm sorry," Katherine said._

"_Why?" Stefan asked._

"_If this is where you come to be alone, then I'm clearly intruding."_

"_No, not at all. I brought you here after all," he said._

"_Only to answer a question of mine. This is your place."_

"_You're welcome to anything that's mine," he said and she gave him a happy smile. "If you'd like to stay here with me for awhile, I would very much enjoy it."_

"_Thank you on both counts. You're a sweet one, Stefan. I _would _love to stay here with you for awhile."_

Stefan threw a rock against the tomb wall, bringing Katherine out of her old memory. Stefan sat far away from her in the tomb. He hadn't spoken a word to her since he told her to stay out of his head. She knew she deserved a bit of anger from him, but she couldn't stand the coldness in his demeanour towards her. She hated it. What she wanted was to see him smile at her again. She wanted to hear him say that he loved her, but she would not say that out loud. She was not going to seem weak. She wouldn't let him know that his hate hurt her.

"Are we seriously not gonna talk at all?" she asked him, taking on a bored tone.

"We could talk about how you regret all you've done to make my life miserable," he said, finally speaking to her.

"What do you want me to say, Stefan?" she responded, surprised he had actually spoken, but trying to keep her voice cool. "That I'm sorry for everything that I've done? We'll I'm not, okay? It's called self-preservation. I've been looking out for myself for 500 years," she said, trying not to get too worked up. She was not going to do this big emotion-fest thing. She'd let her guard down a little bit, months ago, with him. That had gotten her nowhere. She'd stick with being calm and cool.

Stefan laughed a little. "And look where it's gotten you," he said, neither trying to sound cruel or kind. He just sounded tired.

"Yes, I've done terrible things. I know that," she said, walking over to him, letting a bit of her wall down again. "But I do love you, Stefan." She saw the look on his face. It was a 'yeah, sure, tell me another lie' type of look. She hated that he didn't believe her when she said it. He didn't believe it when she told him months ago, and he didn't believe her now. She wanted him to believe her, not just for herself, but for him too.

_You love me, huh? If you ever loved me, you would have done so many things differently. I don't even know if you know how to love, Katherine._

"Even if you don't believe it," she added, seeing his disbelief.

And for some reason, those few words had a bit of an effect on him. _You love me, huh? Prove it then- I know you won't be able to._

"You want me to believe you? Show me. Do something," he said, turning himself in her direction. "Prove to me that there's something inside of you that's actually worth trusting," he said, looking straight at her.

"And then what, hmm?" she asked him, wanting to believe that maybe there was a way that he could look at her one day soon with something other than hate and regret, but cautious about letting too much show at the same time. "You're still gonna hate me," she said, taking a seat, hating the fact that this was probably the truth.

"Maybe," Stefan said, a little bit surprised at her response. _Whatever, she'll flat out tell me that she won't help any second now._" Maybe I'll see that there's still hope for you after all."

_Is he playing me right now? He's just using me. He doesn't mean it, does he?_

"You're playing me," she told him.

"Am I?" he responded.

_Fine. I'll play along, Stefan. I hope you're not just telling me what I want to hear._

"You wanna find Klaus, kill him, so that you can protect your precious Elena?" she said.

"Let me guess- you know where he is?" Stefan said, sitting up a little straighter, paying more attention at the mention of Klaus.

"No, I don't," she admitted. "But I could help you find him."

"For a price, I'm sure," Stefan said.

_Wow, does he actually think that I'm _that _much of a selfish bitch?_

"Start with Isobel," she said, freely giving him the information. Even though she was trying to keep up the calm and cool image, she hated the idea that he really thought that she truly would never do something for him, just for the sake of doing something for him.

He was looking at her differently now, like she'd just thrown him off. Like maybe she just shattered some image he had of her.

_That's a little better, Stefan._

"Elena's mother- she was a research expert," Katherine continued. "She found me."

_She just gave me information and didn't ask for anything in return. She actually helped me._

Stefan and Katherine just looked at each other for a moment.

"You're welcome," she said, breaking the brief silence, playing it off as no big deal.

They heard a noise and both got up, heading to the front of the tomb. Neither of them could believe who they saw.

It was Elijah, and Katherine was scared. Was Klaus on his way? Damon and the merry band of idiots were probably not ready for them. This could not be happening yet. Elena would get killed if they weren't ready. She herself would get killed. She wasn't ready for that yet either, especially at Elijah and Klaus' hands

"Elijah."

"Good evening Katerina. Thank you for having the good sense to be frightened," Elijah said. "Your release has been requested," he said, turning to Stefan.

Stefan turned and looked at Katherine, very confused.

"What?" he asked. "By who?"

"The lovely Elena drives a hard bargain, however, we reached a peaceful agreement, she and I. Please come," Elijah said.

"I can't," Stefan said. The seal was up, he couldn't get out.

"Yes you can. I've had the spell lifted."

Stefan walked out and then Katherine rushed to do the same, but she was stuck inside.

"As for you however," Elijah said to Katherine. "You shall not exit until I say so. When Klaus comes, he'll want to know exactly where you are."

_Holy shit. He just compelled me. What the _hell?

"You're free to go. Elena will explain the arrangement to you,' Elijah told Stefan. "If she keeps her word, I'll keep mine," he said, just before leaving.

"Stefan, no. Please don't let him leave me in here," Katherine said, not caring that she dropped her facade of calm and cool.

Stefan looked at her for a moment. It was a look that was not filled with hate, but there was nothing he could do anyway, even if wanted to.

"Goodbye, Katherine," he said, feeling something he didn't think he would feel, guilty, almost sorry to be leaving her there.

And then he walked out. And Katherine started to panic. She walked back and forth for about ten minutes straight before stopping in her tracks.

_Why would Stefan want to find Klaus, if they actually had the white-ash wood? If they had the white-ash wood, the smart thing would be to have it prepared into stakes for everyone to have so that they'd be ready to kill Klaus when he came, not to stupidly go out and look for him and try to kill him in some place they were not familiar with, or lure him to town. I could get away with luring him to the town because he would actually believe that I had hold of Elena and was ready to hand her over to him in exchange for him finally leaving me alone. He wouldn't believe anything from anyone else._

_They wouldn't be so stupid if they actually had the white-ash wood, which means that they don't have it, which means they don't stand a chance if Klaus decided to come murder them all... I have to talk to Stefan. He has to know. How the hell am I gonna talk to him? He's gone. FUCK! This can't be happening. They're gonna come for Elena. They're gonna kill her. They're going to fucking kill her. No, no no!_

Katherine picked up one of the lanterns and threw it against the cave wall, destroying it. She wished she could do the same to Klaus and Elijah.

o-o-o-o-o-o-

Elena sat at the window, staring out and waiting and also holding her breath. If Elijah was telling the truth she'd find out soon. If Stefan was out he'd call her or come to see her or something. She knew this. She was starting to get nervous, it was like she'd been sitting just waiting to hear from him or see him for hours on end. It was taking so long. A part of her new that she was probably grossly over-exaggerating how long she'd been waiting, but she hadn't checked the time- and it _felt _like forever.

She wanted to see his face, or even just hear his voice so badly. She wanted to know that he was out of the tomb and that he was okay. She wanted him to know that she never wanted to be hurtful, that she only tried to be cold to push him away because she couldn't stand the thought of losing him.

She missed him so much. Breaking up with him had been the hardest thing she'd ever made herself do, but she did it to keep her family safe. Everyone would be safe now. And as long as he still wanted her, there was no reason for her and Stefan to be apart anymore.

Elena pushed aside the curtain and she saw his reflection at the same time he said her name. Stefan was back!

"Hey," he said.

She got up and grabbed him in a hug, and then she just so badly wanted to look at his face. She thought she might cry for a minute but she just kissed him instead.

Stefan had Elena in his arms and everything felt right again. With Elena, everything was right. He was home.

She broke away from the kiss for a quick moment to say "hi" before they resumed the kiss. Before long they ended up on the bed and at this moment Bonnie was walking by outside. Bonnie laughed a little bit despite the really bad feeling she had right now. With a flick of her wrist and a few words, the curtains to the room Stefan and Elena were in were closed.

Bonnie was pretty sure that the neighbours didn't need to see Stefan and Elena when the clothes would inevitably start flying off. She'd remind Elena to thank her later.

o-o-o-o-o-o-

"I talked to Caroline. She said Tyler was all locked up," Damon said.

"So it was Jules, the other werewolf who attacked you," Rose said, putting two and two together, taking a seat next to Damon on the couch.

"Yeah, I'm sorry," Damon said, meaning it. He hadn't wanted anything to happen to Rose. "I picked a fight with her. She was coming after me," he said, pouring her a drink.

"All's well that ends well," Rose said.

"You all healed?" Damon asked.

"Yeah," she answered. "Seems that way.

"Rose, uhh- I'm happy that the legend was fake," Damon said.

Rose tried not to grin too much.

"Maybe the werewolves made it up to keep vampires away.

"Lucky me," Rose said with a smile.

Damon ran his fingers up her leg.

"I'm gonna stay and help you," Rose said.

"Help me do what?" Damon asked, a bit confused.

"Save Elena. Protect Elena. All things Elena."

"Really? Why?" Damon asked.

"Because I like you," she said and Damon started to smile

"I believe in friendship. I happen to have a vacancy in that department, and you could use all the friends you could get."

"Just friends?" Damon asked with a raised eyebrow and a little grin.

"Just friends," Rose confirmed, getting up. Before she could go anywhere Damon pulled her back down and into a deep kiss.

"Are you sure you can do that?" he asked her, going back in for another kiss.

Before she let him kiss her again she said, "I don't love men who love other women. I think more of myself than that. But it doesn't mean I can't be your special friend," she said with a grin.

"I think I like you," Damon said, meaning it. Rose was cool. She was pretty awesome and hot. He could totally do friends with benefits with her.

They both laughed and then started to kiss again, but Rose moved away from him slightly when he placed his hand on her shoulder.

"Oww," she said.

He removed the robe from her shoulder and revealed what looked like an extremely infected area.

The werewolf bite was not gone at all.

"Shit," Damon said.

Rose just chuckled. "You know how they say 'it gets worse before it gets better'? I think my case was an 'it gets better before it gets worse' scenario."

"Shut up," he said. "You're gonna be fine. It's just some crazy reaction to getting bit."

It was like something just completely sunk inside of Damon.

_There's an explanation for this. Those stupid bites don't kill. She's still here, so this just has to be something else. She's gonna be fine. She'd better be fine._

Damon heard a knock at the door and was almost relieved for a moment- something else to think about instead.

He was confused when he saw Bonnie at the door and then he got worried. They weren't supposed to meet up or anything. This meant something was wrong. Bonnie would not just show up to chat, he didn't think.

"What's wrong?" he said in greeting.

To his surprise Bonnie just laughed. "I'm pretty sure we live in really shitty times when we say that as much as we do everyday... _Technically_, nothing's wrong," Bonnie said.

"O-kay then, what's up Judgey?"

"First of all, seriously, you need to keep your phone with you. Elena tried to call you awhile ago. Since you wouldn't answer, I decided to be nice and come share the news with you myself and-" Bonnie stopped when she noticed a woman, who she assumed was Rose coming towards them

"What the hell happened to you?" Bonnie blurted out, seeing the woman's shoulder.

"Bonnie, I'm assuming?" Rose asked.

"Yup, that's me."

"Werewolf bite," Rose said. "You wouldn't happen to know anything about them would you?" Rose said with a humourless laugh.

"No."

"Go put something cool on it. Maybe that will make it better," Damon said pathetically.

"I don't think anything's gonna make it better, Damon. I'm gonna die. The legends are true. I guess it's just that we don't die right away," Rose said, trying to put on a smile.

Damon looked like he was going to break something, and Bonnie was not blind to this. She guessed that Damon and Rose were still sort of hooked up. Now normally Bonnie would say screw this chick because she had gotten Elena kidnapped and tried to hand her over to Elijah and Klaus not long ago, but since Rose had been the one to call Damon and tell him Elena was trying to sacrifice herself and for him to go stop her, and because Damon had not been an asshole last night and had actually sort of apologized, she could spare a bit of concern. She could do a decent thing.

"Does it hurt?" Bonnie asked.

Both Damon and Rose looked surprised by her asking. Bonnie smirked.

"Does it hurt?" she asked again.

"Yes actually, very much" Rose said.

"If the bite's really gonna kill you, honestly I don't know anything that can change that. Maybe it will, maybe it won't. There's nothing I can do about that, but I could probably make some of the pain go away if you want," Bonnie said awkwardly.

"And to that, I would say bring on the pain relief _please_ and thank you," Rose told her.

Damon just looked awkwardly at Bonnie, like he was trying to figure out if she really was going to take away the pain or try to cause more.

Bonnie couldn't help but smirk again. "It's my good deed for the decade."

Rose actually laughed. "I like this girl."

"You already did your good deed for the decade, remember?" Damon said with a laugh of his own. "Driving me to the hospital."

"That was my good deed for _this_ decade. The one I'm about to do will be for the next one. I figure after these two great bouts of kindness I can get away with being a bitch for the next 20 years," Bonnie said.

"I _really_ like you," Rose said, still laughing.

Bonnie had to give the woman credit. It was pretty obvious to Bonnie that she was scared but she was laughing like it was nothing. Damon looked more worried than her, and it was rare to see Damon look worried let alone _more_ worried than someone else.

"You might want to change into something that stays off your shoulder for now," Bonnie told Rose.

"I don't really have anything with me," Rose told her.

"Go get her a towel, Damon," Bonnie said. "Unless you want to do this naked, Rose. You and I have got the same parts, and I'm pretty sure Damon's seen all of you- so if that's your choice we can go with that too," Bonnie said to Rose.

"I _truly_ wish I could have met you before tonight," Rose said, laughing some more.

"Bonnie's joking around with the vampires. Something is wrong with the world," Damon said, going to grab a towel.

"I'm surprised you're offering me any kind of help after what I did."

"If you hadn't called Damon to tell him that Elena was trying to give herself over to Klaus and for him to come get her before it could happen, and I saw you like this- I wouldn't be offering to help you. But since you _did_, ultimately keeping her out of harms way, this is me saying thank you for saving my best friend. My sister. I don't know what I'd do if anything happened to her," Bonnie told her.

"Elena's a lucky girl to have so many people love her so much," Rose said.

"Elena's very lovable," Bonnie said. "We're lucky to have her."

"Whatever your motivation is, thank you. I'm aware that it's more than I deserve. I already told Damon this before, but I'll promise this to you now, if I am still around I will help you all keep Elena safe," Rose said as Damon came back with a towel.

Bonnie gave her a nod as Rose shrugged out of the robe and wrapped the towel around herself.

Bonnie placed one hand on Rose's unaffected shoulder and then her other hand above the one that was bitten and she started to chant. After about fifteen seconds Rose said "That's much better, thank you."

"You're welcome," Bonnie said, heading back towards the door. "You should probably go lie down... I hope you get better," Bonnie said, actually meaning it.

"What did you need to tell me before?" Damon asked, following her to the door before she could leave.

"Oh yeah," she said. "Your brother's out of the tomb. Elijah made a deal with Elena. Apparently he wants Klaus dead. Elena will fill you in on everything tomorrow."

"I'll just call her right now. She can tell me now," Damon said.

"Stefan's out of the tomb, Damon," Bonnie said.

"Yeah that's good, that's what we wanted. What does that have to do with me calling Elena?"

"They haven't been together in awhile and now he's out of the tomb and apparently all the threats to anyone's life are gone. Stefan's at her house right now," Bonnie said.

"Yeah okay, I'll say hey to Stefan too. It's no reason not to call," Damon said, really not getting what Bonnie was trying to hint at.

"Oh for goodness' sake. They're having sex right now, you idiot. _That's_ the reason not to call," Bonnie said, trying not to laugh.

"Okay, I suppose the phone call can wait til the sun comes up then," Damon said, rolling his eyes.

"Do me a favour, just keep an eye out for the next week. Elena said everything's good now, but I've just got a feeling like we shouldn't let our guards down. I told Elena to call me if anything happens or if she needs me here, but she'll try not to worry me even if something's going on- so if something big does start to go down and you guys actually need me here, call me and I'll come back."

"Where are you going?" Damon asked.

"Out of the city. My dad's cousin passed away. So I'm meeting my dad for the funeral and then I'm gonna spend some time with him since I haven't actually seen him in four months... Don't tell Elena about the funeral, I'll tell her later. She was so happy about Stefan getting out, I didn't want to ruin it for her. I think she deserves a night of happiness and being guilt-free and not having to worry about anyone."

"Funerals suck," Damon said awkwardly. Bonnie supposed that was his version of 'sorry to hear that'.

"Yeah they do. I didn't really know his cousin very well, so it won't really be bad on me. I'm going for my dad... Anyway I've gotta get back home. The taxi's gonna be there in half an hour."

"Bonnie," he said, before she shut the door.

She turned around, knowing what he was going to say, or what he at least wanted to say. Normally she would have loved to hear him say it, but she was tired, and she hadn't said it to him yesterday, so she'd spare him the need to thank her by just answering.

"About Rose and coming to tell you about Stefan- You're welcome," she said, not stopping or looking back, just heading out the door.

o-o-o-o-o-o-

"I've missed you like crazy," Stefan whispered to Elena, as she settled against him.

"I missed you too. You being here now- things feel right again. It felt wrong when we weren't together," Elena told him.

"Things are gonna stay feeling right because I'm not going anywhere. You're stuck with me," he said, kissing her softly.

"Good," Elena said with a smile. "Very good.


	6. Chapter 6

0-o-0-o-0-o-0 Here's the new chapter. There will be stuff from "The Descent" and and a bunch of other stuff. Just because a character wasn't in the episode, doesn't mean they won't be in this chapter. If you see some familiar dialogue, it's from the episode. I haven't included everything from the show, just because some of it doesn't fit with where I want to go with the story. In the story so far I have used italics to indicate memories and thoughts, in this chapter italics will also convey that someone is dreaming. It's another long chapter. I really hope you like it. Please leave me a review and let me know what you think. Thanks to everyone who has reviewed so far 0-o-0-o-0-o-0

Caroline sat on her bed with her head in her hands. It wasn't all that long ago that she witnessed Tyler going through his transformation. It wasn't all that long ago that there had been a close call where she wasn't far off from getting bit by Tyler in his wolf form. It wasn't all that long ago since she could have died. And despite the chance that she could have been bitten and killed, she just kept thinking about how horrible she felt for Tyler. She had felt like something was breaking inside of her when she watched him in all that pain. She wished she could have made things better for him. She felt happy that she'd been able to at least be there when he was coming back to himself.

Caroline hadn't admitted it to anyone but she thought she might kind of be falling for Tyler. The weird thing though, was that she was not actually sure. She didn't know if what she felt was just a special kinship and a desire to be there for him or if what she was feeling was more than that.

She was also unsure of what she was feeling for Tyler because she for sure still had feelings for Matt. She had broken up with him for his own good and she had hoped that soon enough maybe her own feelings would fade so that it wouldn't hurt so much anymore- but her feelings for Matt hadn't faded. Everything was so confusing.

And that was the least of what was wrong! Elena was still being hunted because she was some doppelganger human sacrifice- well apparently this wasn't going to happen now because that Elijah guy told Elena he'd keep everyone safe and that he'd kill Klaus when he came to town. Caroline didn't buy this. She just did not believe this guy. And one of Bonnie's relatives passed away. Everything was just chalk full of joy.

Caroline just kind of felt like she would burst soon. One good thing, one undisputedly good thing that had happened was that Stefan was apparently out of the tomb.

Caroline had hardly slept and she just couldn't get herself to sleep now either. She wondered if Stefan was back at his own house yet or if he was still with Elena.

Caroline decided to take a walk over to the Salvatore house to see Stefan. Hopefully he'd be there. Last year she'd had a crush on Stefan for awhile, and now, while she still thought he was drop-dead gorgeous he had come to feel like family to her and a lot of the times, talking to him made her feel better and made things make sense at the same time.

o-o-o-o-o-o-o

Stefan watched Elena's sleeping form while he thought about everything that had transpired in the last little while. He was thrilled to be out of the tomb and back with Elena. He'd been waiting for the day he'd get to be with her again for what felt like forever. He did not trust Elijah, though. Stefan was out of the tomb and grateful because it allowed him to be here with Elena. It allowed him to feel her skin against his once again. It allowed him to come home, but he would not let his guard down.

Elijah was an Original, and at this point Stefan had no trust for them at all. He didn't buy that Elijah planned to keep Elena and everyone she cared about safe, not for a second. He wasn't just going to sit around and do nothing and leave Elena's life in Elijah's hands. No way.

Elena slowly opened her eyes and gave Stefan a sleepy smile. "Is it morning already?"

"Yeah, it is," he replied, laughing a bit at the still half-asleep Elena.

"Why is it morning? It shouldn't be morning. It should be more sleep time," Elena said, hardly able to keep her eyes open. "I feel like I hardly slept."

"That would be because we didn't do much of _actual_sleeping," Stefan said with a laugh, leaning over to kiss her before getting up.

Elena laughed. "That _is_ true. Come back here. Who cares if it's morning? We should totally sleep more."

"I think _you_ definitely should get some more sleep. I'm not even sure if you're fully awake. You're adorable as hell right now, did you know that?" Stefan chuckled. "I gotta go get ready."

"You worry too much, Stefan. Everything's fine now. You don't have to go look for Isobel."

"Close your eyes sleepyhead. You don't have to get up for awhile. It's still pretty early in the morning. I'll see you tonight for sure. You won't even have time to miss me."

"Okay I will close my eyes because frankly I can't keep them open anymore," Elena said, covering a yawn. "I want another kiss first."

"A request I shall gladly grant- anytime you want I might add," Stefan grinned.

He came back to her bed and she got her kiss. "I'm so happy to be back," he whispered.

"I'm so happy to have you back," she whispered back, giving his hand a squeeze before closing her eyes again.

o-o-o-o-o-

"Stefan!" Caroline called, seeing Stefan leave Elena's house.

"Hey Caroline," he said with a smile.

"How are you?" she asked him, giving him a hug. "I'm so glad you're out."

"It's awesome to be out," he said, returning the hug. "Where are you headed?"

"To see you," she said.

"And here I am."

"And here you are," she repeated with a laugh.

"Alright Miss Forbes, let's walk and talk. I can tell you've got something on your mind," Stefan said with a chuckle.

"I do, but I don't even know what to say. My head is a weird jumbled place right now," she told him.

"Is one of the things bouncing around in your head Tyler and the full moon?" Stefan asked.

"Yep," was Caroline's answer and Stefan laughed again.

"Tell me how everything went. Maybe you just need to tell someone what's going on in your head. Sometimes it helps things make sense," he said.

"You are _totally_ the _best_ best friend's boyfriend ever," Caroline said, smiling.

"I'm only the best friend's boyfriend?" Stefan said, pretending to be offended. "I'm not a friend on my own?"

Caroline elbowed him in the ribs. "Oh shut up, you know what I meant."

"Yeah, yeah," Stefan said grin.

"You, Stefan Salvatore, _are_ most definitely my friend," Caroline told him. "And I happen to be very glad about that."

o-o-o-o-o-o-o-

Elena had got up and showered, grabbed something to eat and headed over to see Stefan She was so happy that she would not have to be miserable every time she saw him because she couldn't be with him. There would be no more of that. There'd be happiness from now on. She had him back and she had no intentions of letting him go. He'd only left her house about a couple hours ago, but she was hoping she could possibly get him to change his mind about trying to find Isobel. That, and she just plain wanted to see him one more time before she started her own day.

She arrived at the Salvatore house fairly quickly and headed for Stefan's room. It was empty.

"Stefan?" she called, moving around the room a bit. "Stefan," she said again, looking around. And then she stopped. "You're standing right behind me, aren't you?" she asked, feeling his presence.

"Yep," he said with a grin. He was happy she'd come by so quick. Yeah, it was sappy, but he just plain loved being around her.

She turned around and they shared a kiss in greeting.

"Good morning," he said, even though he'd last been with her only a couple hours ago.

"I don't want us to be apart anymore- ever," she told him.

_Music to my ears, Elena._

"Me neither, but-" he started to say.

"Don't ruin the moment," she told him, cutting him off with a kiss.

_Trust me, I'd much rather be kissing you than ruining the moment._

"You're about to ruin the moment, aren't you?" Elena asked him.

_Unfortunately. Stupid Originals._

"I'm totally ruining the moment," he confessed. "I can't just pretend like everything's okay."

"Katherine's locked away in the tomb," she told him.

"I know, but we still have this pressing little issue of you being Klaus' human sacrifice," Stefan said, throwing a shirt on.

_You should take that back off. I much prefer you without it._

"Yes, but Elijah promised to keep me and everyone else safe as long as we play by his rules," she said, opening a little bottle of vervain.

"Right, as long as _you_ play by his rules," Stefan said.

"Please don't go after Isobel," Elena said as she poured the vervain into a cup mixed with water.

"Katherine said Isobel could have some answers, and I just have a couple questions, that's all."

"Stefan, I made a deal with Elijah," Elena said, taking a sip out of the cup.

"Right. _You_made a deal with him. I didn't make one. You should keep your deal," he told her.

"Stefan, I don't want anyone else to get hurt," she said, wanting him to just go along with Elijah's plan. He didn't need to be worrying.

"When have I ever wanted somebody to get hurt?" he asked her. She just sighed, dropping the subject for now. They weren't going to agree about Elijah.

Stefan looked at the cup in her hands.

"Vervain. I made it light but-" she started pulling the cup away from him when he reached for it. "Are you sure? Just because Katherine built up a tolerance-"

"Yes," Stefan said, taking the cup from her. "Bottoms up."

Swallowing the vervain was _not_fun. But it wasn't unbearable either. He'd deal with not fun in order to build up a tolerance to it, no question about it.

"You okay?" she asked him.

"Yeah."

"How can Elijah compel another vampire?" Elena asked.

"He's an Original. I don't really know what that means," Stefan said, laughing a tiny bit. "I don't think anybody really knows what that means, well except maybe Isobel. I'll be sure to ask her," Stefan said. He could tell Elena was going to object again so this time he cut her off with a kiss before heading out.

Elena just shook her head. She loved Stefan like crazy, but why the hell did he think Katherine's suggestion about Isobel was such a good idea. As far as she was concerned neither of those women could be trusted. Why did he have to doubt this good thing going with Elijah? It _was_possible that someone was actually on their side.

_The doubt is annoying when Elijah's plan sounds so awesome, but I can't pretend the motivation behind it isn't flattering. He loves me and doesn't want anything happening to me. I'm the same when it comes to him._

Elena just shook her head and couldn't help but laugh. They could both be stubborn sometimes. She plopped down onto Stefan's bed. She still had some time before she had to get to where she needed to be. She was a little bit tired still, so she closed her eyes for a bit. She wasn't surprised that she was still tired. She'd been sleeping horribly for weeks- the lack of sleep had finally caught up to her. Before she closed her eyes she got a text message from a girl from her class- the girl she was supposed to be meeting in an hour and a half. It turned out that she wouldn't be able to meet up today after all. Elena was supposed to show her around the school because she was new.

Elena was very happy that she didn't need to meet up with the girl, now she could close her eyes for a bit longer, she'd actually let herself, because there was no longer a huge threat looming over everyone's head. Elena's motto had been that if no one else was getting great sleep because they were worrying about trying to keep her safe, then she wasn't going to be indulging in sleep either. There was no real threat anymore. Stefan was just being cautious.

Sleep came to her quickly as she held Stefan's pillow to her chest. There was always something comforting about him or even having something that was his with her as she slept.

o-o-o-o-o-o-o

Stefan had been great and had listened to her vent on the walk to his house, and she felt better just talking to him. Now Caroline was on the school grounds, checking out what was going on. She saw Tyler.

"How are you feeling?" Caroline asked Tyler in greeting.

"I'm okay. Sore. Every muscle aches."

"You did it. You know, your first full moon and you didn't hurt anyone. It'll get easier. You'll get better at it. You'll learn to control it, and it won't hurt so much," she said.

"We don't know any of that for sure," Tyler told her.

"No, but small victories, Tyler. Last night was a victory, you know. Let's take it."

Tyler laughed and gave her a smile.

"Look, I really wanna thank you. I don't know what I would have done if you hadn't been there," he told her seriously.

They had a moment, just kinda staring at each other.

"Umm, yeah, anyway," Caroline said, breaking the silence.

Tyler grinned.

"Next month we should probably reinforce the wall because you almost got me that one time and it just wouldn't have been umm-"

"What?" Tyler asked.

"Never mind," Caroline said, brushing it off.

"Wait, hey. No. What is it?"

"Well, it's not a big thing. It's just that one bite and it's uh, you know, curtains for me."

"What are you talking about?" Tyler asked her, a bit confused.

"Legend says a bite from a werewolf can kill a vampire," she explained.

"How do you know that?" he questioned.

"I, I think I read it somewhere-" Caroline said, trying to make something up without sounding like she was lying.

"Caroline, you got a second?" Matt called out.

_Good timing, Matt. Thank you, thank you, thank you._

"Hey Matt," Tyler said.

"What's up?" Matt responded.

_Okay now it feels a tiny bit awkward. Me and Matt and Tyler. How fun._

"Yeah, sure," Caroline said, responding to Matt.

"I'll see you guys later," Tyler said, taking it as his cue to get out of there.

"That was nothing, okay," Caroline told Matt immediately. "There is nothing going on between Tyler and I. We were just talking-"

"I believe you," Matt said, a bit amused that she seemed so nervous."Look Caroline, you're a lot of things, but you're not a liar. You've always been straight with me. I believe you."

"Good," Caroline said, feeling relieved.

"That's why I wanna be straight with you, 'cause I- I think we got some wires crossed here."

"Okay," Caroline said.

"You know how tongue-tied I get, and well I- I don't like this- Whatever this is that's going on between us. And I just wanna-" Matt was not doing so well with words at the moment so he just went in to kiss her instead.

And Caroline kissed him back, until she started to pull away.

"You can't," she said weakly.

"Why? "

"Just-"

"But Care-"

"No Matt, okay," Caroline said, more firmly this time, finding her voice. She walked away, but she wasn't exactly sure why. She didn't know if she walked away because she was feeling something for Tyler or if it was because she was still trying to do the right thing by staying away from Matt for his own safety.

_I think it's because I love you and I don't ever want to have the chance to hurt you- but I think I like Tyler too._

It wasn't all that long before Matt found her again.

"Why?" he asked her.

"Why what?" she asked back.

"I kissed you."

"I know. I was there," she responded lamely.

"So why'd you run away?"

"You caught me off guard," she said.

"Yeah?" _And what?_

"What did you expect me to do?" she asked him.

"Not that," he told her.

"Well I'm sorry," she said.

"And?"

"And what?" she asked. "What do you want me to say, Matt?"

"Something Anything. How- how did you feel? Anything in the realm of truth right now would be nice," he told her.

"Okay- I feel like I- I love you." _Oh my God, I said it._

"I love you?" he asked her.

She nodded a little.

"Then what's the problem?" he asked, amused. "What are you keeping from me Care?" he asked, seriously this time.

Caroline just shook her head.

"Look, if you love me, you'll tell me. So what is it?" he asked her again.

Some girl showed up calling Matt for something and Caroline took this as her opportunity to get out of there as fast as possible.

She needed to get away. She needed to think. She needed to be alone and away from Matt and Tyler. Caroline didn't head home. She decided to take a long walk first, hoping to clear her head.

She walked and walked, and though she felt calmer, her head was no less clear.

She finally decided to head home and hoped that maybe she could just close her eyes and get some rest.

She did not expect Tyler to be at her doorstep, yet that is exactly where he was.

"Hey," he said. "Where've you been?"

"School," she answered. "What's up? Uh, what do you want?" Caroline asked awkwardly.

"We need to talk," he said.

_No. We do not need to talk. I need to get inside and away from boys who keep making me confused. That's what I need to do._

"Why?" she asked him.

"What's wrong with you?" she asked when he had only stared at her instead of answering.

"I just don't understand one thing," he said.

"What?"

"Why would you risk it? If a werewolf bite kills a vampire, why would you risk it?" he asked her.

_Why the hell do you need to ask me that right now? I'm trying to figure out what the hell is going on in my own head, how could I give you an answer when even I'm not 100% sure what it is._

"Because you needed help," she said. That much was true.

"I could have killed you," he said.

"But you didn't," she told him.

"I don't understand you, Caroline."

"Why is it so hard for you to let someone else help you?" she asked, pushing by him, getting ready to enter her house.

"That's not it," he told her.

_Do not tell me what it is and isn't Tyler. You don't know what I think or feel._

"Yeah it is, Tyler. You know, it's like you don't want anyone to care about you, and I'm sorry I cared. I cared Tyler, so forgive me if I overstepped my boundaries by actually giving a-" And before Caroline could finish her sentence, Tyler turned her around and cut her off with a kiss.

_Oh my. He's totally kissing me right now. It feels nice. No! Stupid Tyler. Stop. Stop confusing me._

He pulled away for a second, just looking at her, before kissing her again- and this time she kissed him back, even if it was only for a second.

_What the hell am I doing? I should not be kissing him back! What about Matt? I love Matt. I want Matt. Oh good God. I think I want them both._

Caroline broke the kiss. "You can't do that," she told him, voice a bit shaky.

"I'm sorry," he said. "It's-"

Caroline didn't need or want to hear what he had to say next. What she needed was to get her head together and get away from these two boys that were making her crazy.

"Everyone just needs to stop kissing me," she said, half-yelling, before going into her house and shutting the door behind her.

_Okay good. No boys in here, just bed. Go lie down in bed and hope for an early sleep and some peace of mind._

o-o-o-o-o-o-o

"I was born in 1450. That makes me 560 years old.

"Well, if you were a bottle of wine-" Damon started, going for a bit of humour.

"So I can die. I've lived long enough."

"You know, if you're gonna be maudlin I'm just gonna kill you myself," he said, hoping to get a reaction out of her. "Just to put me out of your misery. Come on, it's just a little werewolf bite," he said, pouring some blood into a glass.

"Just a little- fatal to a vampire- werewolf bite," Rose sad with an unhappy laugh.

"Well, according to legend, which is a notoriously unreliable source. Drink up. Blood heals," Damon said, passing Rose the glass, trying to keep a mask of calm on his face.

She drank the blood and Damon tired to plaster a smile on his face.

"Yeah, it does feel like it's working," Rose admitted.

"Let's have a look, come on," Damon said hopefully. "Let's see," Damon said.

_Oh shit. This is bad. This is not good at all._

"How is it?" Rose asked him.

"It's definitely- better," Damon said, lying. "Right Elena?" he said, when he heard her approach.

"Umm, it's not bad," Elena said. She didn't know if it was better since this was her first time seeing it. She went along with Damon to try to ease Rose's mind.

_Oh no. She must have been bit last night. Wait, a werewolf bite is supposed to kill. She's still alive, so as bad as this is, it's still a good thing, isn't it? Why doesn't Damon look happier? What if she is dying? Oh man, what if it's just going to be a slow death. No, don't think like that. Hopefully she'll be fine._

"Where's Stefan?" Damon asked.

"He left. I need you to talk to him. He's convinced that he has to find Isobel. But I think that's gonna upset Elijah."

"No can do," Damon said. "I'm with Stefan on this one. But, if you could play nurse for a little while-"

"It's not necessary,' Rose told Elena.

"It is necessary," Damon told Rose. "Elena's a do-gooder. It's in her nature. She just can't resist."

Elena followed Damon to the door. "Damon, is she gonna die?"

"Probably. The wolf bite caused some kind of infection. It's getting worse."

"Poison?" Elena asked.

Damon shrugged. "I don't know, Elena. I'm not an expert in the field."

"I'm sorry," Elena said.

"Death happens," Damon said cooly. "We come. We go. The sooner she dies, the better. It's gloomy as hell in here," he said, sick of all these stupid emotions.

Damon left and Elena worried for him. She could tell that he was upset about Rose, but of course he just decided to act like a jerk instead of admit that he was worried.

o-o-o-o-o-o-o-

Stefan thought that possibly the best place and person to start looking for Isobel with was Alaric. He headed over to the Grill to meet Alaric. He spotted him at a table and headed over.

"Do you still know of a way to get in touch with Isobel?" Stefan asked.

"Even if I did, she isn't going to help."

"Katherine said that Isobel knew of Klaus."

"So this isn't about Rose, it's about Elena," Alaric said.

"Yeah," Stefan said. He hadn't wanted to say it to Damon, but Stefan was sure that there was nothing that could be done for Rose. He thought that the bite really was going to kill her slowly. Stefan truly hoped for Rose's sake, that it wouldn't cause her anymore pain and that it would let her pass away peacefully and quickly. He didn't want her to suffer.

"I have an old number," Alaric told him. "Probably out of service."

"No harm in giving it to me then."

"You know you can't trust Isobel, even when it comes to Elena."

"I know that," Stefan said.

"Alright. I'll see if I can find the number. If I do, I'll text it to you," Alaric said, getting up to leave.

_I really hope you find that number. I need some information. I hate being blind like this. It wouldn't be so bad if it was just me who was in danger, but it's Elena. I'm not losing her. I need to know how to save her._

o-o-o-o-o-o-

Rose was not doing so well and Elena could feel how much Rose hated being this weak and vulnerable. Rose made a comment about not having had a cold in 5 centuries as Elena was helping Rose into Damon's bed. Rose obviously hated being looked after like a child who was sick.

"We don't get sick. When we die it's fast and sudden, and it's certainly not drawn out with illness."

"You're not gonna die," Elena said, not really believing the words she was saying.

"Such a human thing to say."

Elena took a look around Damon's room. Somehow she hadn't it pictured looking like this.

"Not what you expected?" Rose asked, watching Elena take a look around the room.

"It's just a room with a bed... Maybe I expected there to be silk sheets," Elena said, hoping to get a little laugh out of Rose, and she did.

"You're lucky, you know? No one's ever loved me the way you're loved."

"I doubt that," Elena said.

"Trevor was my best friend, nothing more. We spent all those years on the run from Elijah. I just never thought it was a good idea to set up roots. The whole idea of family is not exactly compatible with being a vampire... Why are you so eager to give up?"

"I'm not giving up on anything, here," she said, passing Rose some blood.

"What do you call this whole deal with Elijah?" Rose asked, learning about it from Stefan.

"I call it my best option," Elena said.

"It's your easiest option," Rose said.

"That's not fair," Elena told her.

"You really are determined to die, aren't you? At least I ran. You're not even trying," Rose said before closing her eyes.

_I'm over the dying bit. I was only going to do that to keep everyone safe. Elijah said he can keep us all safe. What the hell more can I ask for? Here's the answer to the problem- just because I'm going with this plan does not mean I'm so ready to give up. I don't want to die. What else is there to do anyway? Nothing. We don't know how the hell to kill an Original, so when I've got one offering to protect us, I need to work with this guy. Why the hell is that giving up? It's not giving up. It's keeping everyone safe is what it is. Because if nothing else, Elijah promised he'd keep everyone I care about safe. Even if he's playing me like a fool, he promised he'd keep the others safe. That's what I care about still more than myself. This is not me giving up. I don't wanna die, but if he ends up screwing me over and helping Klaus sacrifice me, everyone I love will be fine. Rose has said it before, she may hate Elijah but he keeps his word. In the end, this is the best any of us have got._

o-o-o-o-o-o-o-

Bonnie had sat through the cab ride and the bus ride thinking about nothing else besides the Elijah and Klaus and Elena thing. Maybe it was the eternal pessimist in her, but she just did not believe Elijah. And if he was bad news like Bonnie thought he was, he also had two warlocks on his side which made him even more of a threat. Bonnie wanted to even the playing field so badly, but really, how could she even it? On one side there was Klaus and Elijah and possibly other Originals also, who, to Bonnie and the Mystic Falls crowd's knowledge were unkillable, as well as Luka and Jonas Martin. On the other side there was herself, Stefan, Damon, Caroline, Elena and Jeremy, and potentially Tyler, all killable, Jeremy included if he somehow were to lose his ring. Bonnie had been thinking that if push came to shove the others might agree to share a bit more with Tyler in hopes that he could be of some help to them.

If Rose ended up making it through, Bonnie could add her to the list of allies, and she would definitely be helpful seeing as she was older than Stefan and Damon and Caroline put together. But they were up against Originals and Bonnie knew that they would need more.

There was potentially one more person that could be of help to them, and Bonnie was sure that even though Rose was some decades older than her, that Katherine would be the toughest one of them all. Bonnie wanted to punch something when she thought about possibly working with Katherine, but she had to think about everything.

It might sound crazy that Bonnie was even thinking about Katherine. Bonnie had absolutely nothing to back it up, but there was a part of her that believed that Katherine didn't actually want to sacrifice Elena.

She knew that she was attributing characteristics of humanity to Katherine, which was crazy, but she just could not believe that someone would willingly let one of their own die and then to take into account that this person to be sacrificed was the last of her living bloodline, Bonnie just couldn't help but feel that maybe that psycho bitch might not really want Elena dead.

There was also the fact that Katherine could have grabbed Elena and taken her where no one could find her while she waited for Klaus to come so that she could hand Elena over as a sacrifice, yet she didn't do that.

Bonnie still thought about Katherine and wanted to set her on fire, but if there was some way that she could help against Elijah and Klaus, Bonnie could set that urge aside and focus on the fact that Katherine had kept Jeremy alive when she easily could have taken off his ring and killed him.

Bonnie needed to talk to Stefan. Neither brother was a big fan of Katherine, but Stefan was definitely the more reasonable of the two, and maybe he could discuss the possibility that Katherine could be a help to Elena with Bonnie. She wanted to know what he thought. He knew Katherine better than she did. Damon would just flat out say that she couldn't be trusted. Stefan might end up saying the same thing, but he'd at least talk with Bonnie about it.

Those were all the possibilities Bonnie could think of for vampires simply because she had no clue where Elena's mother Isobel was. Bonnie was still fuming about Luka and Jonas and did not like the fact that she was outnumbered in the magic department. Bonnie was hoping that that would change after the funeral. She had someone she needed to talk to who could possibly even out the playing field, at least magically speaking.

o-o-o-o-o-o-

Caroline lay in her bed, hoping that sleep would come to her soon. She wondered if she'd even be in this situation right now if she was still human. Probably not. She and Matt would have still been together, she was sure. She wouldn't know about Tyler and the werewolf thing so she probably never really would have gotten close to him. Everything was simpler when she was human. Ignorance was bliss. She wondered to herself if she could be human again, would she want to. Her immediate thought had been yes, but when she thought a bit more, the answer became an 'I don't know.' As a vampire she was strong and she could actually help protect her friends. As a vampire, she liked to believe that she became smarter and less selfish.

Caroline shook her head. She did not need to be thinking about anything else, she already had enough on her mind.

_Come on dammit. I want to sleep. I know it's still really early, but I'm freakin' exhausted... Wow, I actually think I'm going to try that counting thing. Nothing else is working._

So Caroline lay in bed counting sheep in her head, hoping for a few hours of rest.

o-o-o-o-o-o-o

Rose was not doing well, in fact Elena could say without a doubt that things were bad, very bad. Rose had gone from screaming in agony, to thinking Elena was Katherine, to feasting away on the bloodbags in the cooler, to chasing after Elena with the intention of probably making her her next meal. Yep, things were not good. Elena had locked herself away in Stefan's room to keep Rose from attacking her. She had called Damon and told him to come back. She hoped he would get there soon. Maybe he could help Rose. Time had passed and before Elena knew it the sun was down.

She hadn't heard Rose in awhile. Maybe Rose had calmed down and come back to herself.

_Oh shit! Maybe she left the house. The sun is down after all. No. No. No. What if she's hurting someone? Where the hell is Damon?_

Elena finally left Stefan's room, clutching a stake in her hand.

o-o-o-o-o-o-o

Damon walked into the Grill and walked straight over to Jules.

"Well, if it isn't the one I meant to kill- I'll have to get that right next time," Jules said, taking a sip of her drink.

"You won't live to see another full moon- unless, unless you tell me how to cure a wolf bite," Damon said, wanting nothing more than to tear this woman's head off of her shoulders. "And then I won't kill you."

"Promise?" Jules asked, trying to play with his head.

Damon nodded. "Yes."

Jules took a moment before telling Damon, "bite me," as she got up to walk away.

_I would love to and then I'd drain you dry._

Damon got up and stopped her from leaving.

"I'm not afraid of you."

"Then you are very, very stupid," Damon said.

"How's your friend? Rose- was that her name? Have the chills started? The unbearable pain?"

"If there's a cure, tell me. Or start watching your back," Damon said, trying to reign in the rage he was feeling.

"Did I mention the dementia? It'll eat away at her brain. Soon she'll be rabid. You want a cure? I'll tell you the only cure that exists- take a stake and drive it through her heart," Jules said, exiting the Grill.

Damon stood there, seething. He was going to kill that woman, and when he did, he was going to enjoy it.

o-o-o-o-o-o-o

Elena was practically tip-toeing through the house. She had no clue if Rose was still here, and if she was, she had no idea if she was herself again.

Elena nearly jumped out of her skin when Damon showed up. He startled her.

"You okay?" he asked her. "Where's Rose?"

"I don't know," she said, shaking her head. "It's bad, Damon. Things are not good. She kept thinking I was Katherine and she totally freaked out and she came after me twice. I got away and locked myself in Stefan's room. I'm sorry."

"It's not your fault. I was an idiot for leaving you with her. She's not herself. I should have figured that something like this could have happened. Did she hurt you at all?" Damon asked.

"Don't worry about me. Let's just find Rose. If she left, and I think she did, bad things could be happening right now."

"You are-"

"Don't tell me I'm not coming with you Damon. You know that's not gonna fly."

Damon let out a frustrated sigh. If Rose really was rabid right now, he didn't want Elena near her, but he knew Elena was right. She'd just end up following him. "Okay. Let's go."

When Elena and Damon found Rose, she was biting some woman, likely killing her, already having killed two other people.

"Rose, stop!" Damon yelled.

She turned and started to come at Damon but he grabbed her and got her on the ground.

"Rose, Rose! It's me. It's Damon," he said, holding her down. "It's Damon," he repeated as she flailed. "It's Damon."

Elena watched, her heart aching for both of them. For Rose, because this clearly was not her. For Damon, because he was legitimately hurting with concern for Rose.

Rose finally calmed down and seemed to come back to herself again. She turned to the side, looking at the woman she just attacked.

"Did I do this?" she asked, crying. "I didn't mean to hurt anyone. I never wanted to hurt anybody," she said.

"I know," was all Damon could manage to say.

"I'm sorry. I'm so sorry," Rose cried when saw Elena.

"Let's get you home," Damon said.

"No. I don't have a home. I haven't had a home in so long. Oh make it stop. Please make it stop," she wailed.

Damon felt a tightening in his chest.

"I hate it. Make it stop," Rose cried, half-yelling. She was in agony.

Damon picked her up and brought her to the car. Elena grabbed the stake off the ground and followed.

o-o-o-o-o-o-o

Alaric had found the phone number and sent it to Stefan. Stefan really hoped that he could get in touch with Isobel. He didn't believe Elijah. He needed info about Klaus and he had no idea where else to look. He didn't trust Isobel, but somewhere deep down, if she knew that her daughter was in trouble, wouldn't she at least try to help, even if she did have her own agenda?

He dialled the number and left a message hoping for the best.

o-o-o-o-o-o-o

"Hi there," Damon said, trying to sound calm, when Rose opened her eyes.

"I'm sorry," she said tiredly.

"You went on a murderous rampage. It happens," Damon said, trying to make a joke of everything.

"I'm sorry, Elena," Rose said, hearing Elena come in the room. "I don't like taking human life. I never have."

"You shouldn't be here," Damon told Elena seriously.

"That's the worst part about it- the hunt, the need to kill, the thirst, the pleasure it brings you afterwards. I wasn't meant to be evil. It hurts."

"Then stop talking about it," Damon said.

"Damon's a lot like me," Rose told Elena. "He wants to care, and when he does, he runs away from it."

_She does not need to be saying this stuff in front of Elena._

"I'm sorry for what I've done today," Rose said to Elena.

"I know," Elena said softly.

"And you need to fight. I know that you're scared, but you have to do it anyway," she told her, before beginning to cough. "Why are you so nice to me?" Rose asked Elena.

"Us humans," was Elena's response.

"I can never forget it- what it's like to be human. It haunts me. It's the only thing that's kept me going."

_Why the hell does she have to be saying all this stuff? Why? We're vampires. There's no use dwelling on the past._

"Doesn't hurt as much anymore," Rose said. And then she started writhing in pain again.

"What do we do?" Elena asked Damon.

"Go," he said, getting on the bed behind Rose.

"Damon-" Elena started.

"Just go. I got this," he told Elena again, not wanting her to be there. She didn't need to see this. It would only make her sad.

"Make it stop. Make it stop. Make it stop!" Rose wailed.

Elena knew Damon meant it. He did not want her there, so she respected his wishes and left.

Damon just sort of held Rose and hoped she'd stop screaming. Hoped she'd stop hurting.

After a bit, the pain had lessened.

"Who would've thought you'd be a nice guy?" Rose said.

"I'm not nice. I'm mean. I like it," he said, hoping for a smile.

"You lie," she told him quietly.

"Shh, just sleep. Just sleep," he told her, pain filling up inside him.

_Rose was running and happy. She was surrounded by green land, horses and trees. She felt like she was home._

_She spotted Damon sitting and went to join him. "This was my favourite place to come as a girl. How did you know?" she asked him._

"_Word gets around," Damon said. Rose looked sceptical. "You told Elena," he explained with a smile._

"_Am I dreaming?" Rose asked him._

_Damon shrugged._

"_The sun is so warm," she said, loving it. "I miss this. I miss being human."_

"_Humanity isn't all it's cracked up to be."_

"_I had friends. I had a family. I mattered," she told him._

"_You still do," he said._

"_No," she said with a sad smile. "But you do. You've built a life whether you want to admit it or not. I've spent 500 years just existing."_

"_You didn't have a choice. You were running from Klaus," Damon said, trying to stick up for her to herself._

"_There's always a choice," she told him._

"_You are ruining our perfect day with your strange philosophical babbling," he told her, not knowing what to say._

_She smiled and moved closer to him "I'd like to enjoy the fresh air. Will you enjoy it with me?" she asked him._

"_For awhile," he said and Rose smiled._

_Damon put his arms around her, and brought her closer to him._

"_Thank you," she said._

"_For what?"_

"_The pain's gone," she said._

"_I'm glad," he told her, truly meaning it._

"_Will I see them again, my family?" she asked._

"_I think you will see whoever you want to see," he told her._

"_That would be nice," she smiled. "Maybe I'll see Trevor too," she said, moving to look Damon in the eye. "I'm not afraid anymore."_

Damon let go of the sleeping Rose's hand and picked up the stake, getting it in place, his eyes pooling with tears.

"_I'll race you to the trees," Rose said happily, getting up._

"_Well, you'll lose," Damon said with a grin._

_Rose just shook her head, amused. "I'm older and faster."_

"_Oh you think?" he said getting up._

_Rose laughed._

"_Well, I'm controlling this dream, maybe I'll cheat," he told her._

_Rose smiled some more. "On the count of three," she said._

Damon gripped the stake, getting ready.

"_One," she said._

Damon took a breath.

"_Two," she said._

Damon did not wait for 'three.' He plunged the stake quickly into her heart.

Rose let out a quick gasp and then it was all over.

Tears fell from Damon's eyes and everything felt all kinds of wrong.

Rose was dead. She was gone. He did it, but for once, this had been a kindness, to end her pain and suffering- to bring her peace.

_You can rest now. You can stop fighting. It's okay now, Rose._

This woman, in a very short span of time had become more than just a friend. She _got_ him. She hadn't judged him. She was a cool woman. She was nice. She had been nice to him. And now she was gone. And it hurt. It was not supposed to hurt. Damon was not supposed to feel. But he did. This was a problem.

o-o-o-o-o-o-o-

Elena sat on her bed. She knew what happened with Damon and Rose; she didn't need to be told. She was sure that Damon had ended up putting her out of her misery.

Elena wanted to go see Damon, to make sure he was okay. She knew he wouldn't want to see her but she felt like he should see someone right now.

She decided that she was going to head back and check on him and hope for the best.

o-o-o-o-o-o-o-

On the other side of town Jules had found Tyler and proceeded to let some secrets loose. She told Tyler that Mason was dead and that Caroline had lied to him. She told him that there were plenty of other vampires in town and that Caroline was not a friend. She told him that Caroline was not to be trusted.

This was all Caroline and her friends needed right now- angry werewolves on their backs.

o-o-o-o-o-o-o-

"You were supposed to leave," Damon said when he saw Elena sitting on his couch.

"I did, but then I came back to make sure that you were okay," she told him.

"I appreciate the gesture," he said awkwardly. "I'm just glad it's over."

"You know I don't believe that," she said, refusing to keep letting him act like he didn't feel anything.

"Go home, Elena. Get some rest. It's a whole new day tomorrow," he said, not in the mood to talk.

"Damon, I'm your friend," Elena told him.

"I'm well aware of that."

"And a friend usually knows when their friend is hurting."

"What do you wanna hear?" he asked her. "That I cared about Rose? That I'm upset? Well, I didn't and I'm not," he said stubbornly.

There would be no more of this 'feeling' business.

"There you go- pretending to turn it off, pretending not to feel," Elena said, not giving up. "Damon, you're so close. Don't give up."

"I feel, Elena, okay? And it sucks. What sucks even more was that it was supposed to be me. Jules was coming after me."

"You feel guilty," Elena said.

"That would be human of me, would it, Elena? And I'm not human. You're one to talk about giving up- all you've done is give up. Go home. There's been enough doom and gloom and personal growth for one night."

"Okay, I will," she said, knowing that she wasn't going to get anywhere with him.

She gave him a hug before she left, and it was almost more than he could take right then.

"Goodnight Damon," she said as she left.

_Why does she give a crap about me? Why does she believe in me? Why does she keep trying to see something good in me? Why?_

Damon grabbed as many bottles of alcohol as he could hold and he headed out of the house.

o-o-o-o-o-o-o-

Stefan's phone beeped. He got a text message from the old number for Isobel.

It said: 'You don't need anything from me. I hear that an Original is in town. I'm assuming you want to find Klaus. Forget about that. That's not the solution to your problem. Talk to Katherine. She can help with anything having to do with Elena.'

o-o-o-o-o-o-o

Damon walked and drank and walked and drank and then walked and drank some more.

He wanted to forget and he wanted to stop feeling. To wanted to stop feeling like he was half crazy. He wanted to get drunk so badly.

He drank so much that he had fallen in the road and then he just decided to stay lying there.

The woman who was driving by stopped her car and got out when she saw Damon lying on the ground.

She asked if he was okay, what had happened.

"I'm lost," he said pathetically.

"You're laying in the middle of the road."

"Not that kind of lost," he said, sitting up. "Metaphorically. Existentially," he said, turning to look at her.

"Do you need help?"

"Yes I do," he answered. "Can you help me," he said, taking another swig from his flask.

"You're drunk," the woman said.

"No. Well, yes, a little maybe," he replied as she started to walk back to her car "No! Please don't leave. I really do need help."

She kept walking. Damon got up and stopped her before she got to her car.

"Don't move," he said, compelling her.

"I don't want any trouble," she told him, afraid.

"Neither do I," he said. "But it's all I've got- trouble."

"Why can't I move?" she asked Damon as he took another gulp from the flask.

"What's your name?" he asked her.

"Jessica," she answered, more scared than she'd ever been in her life.

"Well Jessica, I have a secret. I have a big one. I've never said it out loud. I mean, what's the point? It's not gonna change anything. It's not gonna make me good. It's not gonna make me adopt a puppy. I can't be what other people want me to be, what _she_ wants me to be," he said, not able to get Elena out of his head. "This is who I am Jessica," he said, gripping her shoulders.

"Are you gonna hurt me?"

"I'm not sure," he answered. "Because you are my existential crisis. Do I kill you or not kill you?" Damon said, feeling insane.

"Please don't," she begged.

"But I have to, Jessica, because I'm not human and I miss it. I miss it more than anything in the world. That is my secret," Damon said.

_There. I said it. I finally said it._

"But there's only so much hurt a man can take," he continued.

_Being human means pain. Being human means feeling that pain. I can't do that. I can't become a victim to feelings and emotion- not again._

"Please don't," she begged once again.

"Okay," Damon said, a tear falling from his eye. "You're free to go."

_Elena would be proud of me right now. She'd think I was worthy of her friendship._

Jessica ran for her car, but before she made it inside, Damon grabbed her and sunk his teeth into her neck.

_Sorry Elena. I'm not perfect. I can't be the good guy you think. I can't be Mr. All-Round Good Guy. I can be good to you. I can protect you. I can be good to Judgey and Vamp Barbie and even Liz and your aunt, and Rix and my brother and yours on occasion but I can't do more than that. I_need_to be bad. It keeps me sane. It keeps me from hurting. It keeps me from hurting too much... I need to be bad, but I'll keep it away from you. You'll never know. I won't hurt you._

o-o-o-o-o-o-o-

Stefan had gone back to his house, thinking he would find Damon. Elena had called him and told him that Rose was dead. He had no idea what he was going to say to his brother, but he at least wanted to be there in case by some weird miracle Damon did want to talk. But Damon wasn't here.

If Damon wasn't here there was no reason he needed to be here either. He had wanted to see Elena but thought Damon might have needed him. Damon wasn't here, so Stefan left his house and headed to Elena's.

He sent her a text. 'You in the mood for company?'

Her quick reply was 'If it's yours, then definitely J'

Stefan smiled to himself as he made his way up to her window. He figured coming through the front door at this time might not be the best idea.

Elena was already waiting there for him. She opened the window and let him in.

"Hey," she said, giving him a kiss in greeting.

"Hey yourself," he said back. "How are you doing?"

"I'm fine. I'm sad she's dead. I feel horrible for Damon, but of course he did his Damon thing and tried to act all tough and emotionless."

"I went to the house to see if maybe he just wanted some company or even someone to throw insults at if it would make him feel better, but he wasn't there," Stefan told her.

"I don't really blame him for not wanting to be there right now. He probably feels like her death is all over the house."

"Are you okay, though?"

"Yeah, I'm okay. I feel sad, but it can't be anything like what Damon's feeling," she answered.

"I meant physically. Are you okay? Damon left me some message a little while ago, just before I talked to you saying that Rose had thrown you around a bit, that she came after you."

"I'm fine, really. It could have been bad, but it wasn't. I may not be the toughest cookie in the jar, but I've got some fight in me and I used my head," Elena said, shrugging it off.

"Good," Stefan said.

"You know what else would be good, very good, in fact?" Elena asked with a smile.

"I'm hoping that you're going to say something that involves me getting into that bed with you," he answered her with a grin.

She got back into her bed and patted the spot next to her. "Get in."

o-o-o-o-o-o-o-

"_Stefan, focus Stefan. It's Katherine. Yes, you're dreaming, but this is the only way I can get to you, to talk to you. Stefan, pay attention. I'm serious, love. I have this feeling like he's still around. I can't keep this up for long, I haven't had enough blood. Do not trust Elijah, do you understand me? Do not trust him. He is lying. The sneaky little bastard came down to see me and he just told me everything that he and Klaus plan to do. They're still working together. They still want to kill Elena, make no mistake about it._

_I know you're probably thinking that I'm lying and that this is all bullshit and you're probably wondering why Elijah would tell me anything. Well, it was to see the damn look on my face when he told me that he had you all fooled and that he was going to make sure that any Petrova or anyone who was linked to us would be wiped off the face of the planet. And then he compelled me to forget what he said, or so he thought. His compulsion didn't work on me this time, but he has no clue._

_You have to believe me. Do_not_trust him. I need you to come and see me. I need you to bring me blood. I have a plan, I've had a plan for awhile, but I guess Elena never told you, she probably thought I was lying. Come to me, please, bring me blood. Bring me blood so that I can tell you what you need to do, like this. This is how I'm going to have to talk to you from now on, at least for things like this._

_Please come see me. I am not playing a game with you. I-"_

"_Katherine? What happened? Katherine, where'd you go?"_

Stefan woke with a start.

"What's wrong?" Elena asked him, with a yawn.

"Nothing," he said, placing a kiss to her forehead. "Go back to sleep."

Elena fell back asleep quickly. Stefan carefully got out of the bed and left a note on the pillow in case she woke up. _Can't sleep. Getting some air. I'll be back soon._

Stefan ran back to his house and grabbed some blood bags and poured the contents into a couple bottles. Katherine may be manipulating him, but he believed her. He believed she was telling him the truth, he had to go see her. Truthfully, he was going to see her even without this dream. He couldn't explain it, but he felt like he needed to see her, like he couldn't just leave her completely alone in that tomb, even after all the havoc she's wreaked.

He had hated her for such a long time, and maybe at some point, he could have just left her in there alone to whither away. Goodness knows that she'd done enough bad things to deserve it, but she gave him some information that could help Elena, and that alone, earned her some compassion from Stefan. It had nothing to do with the scared look on her face or the tone in her voice when she had told him not to leave her in that cave when Elijah came and told him he could leave. It had nothing to do with the fact that she insisted, once again that she loved him or that she didn't ask for anything in return when she told him that Isobel could probably lead him to Klaus... He was just being decent.

He threw the bottles in a bag and headed for the cave and he ran into Elijah.

"What brings you here Mr. Salvatore?" Elijah asked.

"I'm bringing her something to drink and give her a bit of company," Stefan said simply.

"Why?"

"Because even she doesn't deserve to be starved and completely isolated, and plus I wanted some air," Stefan answered easily. "I can't and won't even try to stop whatever's going to happen to her. She's done more than enough bad things that she would deserve pretty much anything you had in store, but I'm not just going to leave her to whither away and suffer. Until the day comes when you do whatever you're going to do, I'm going to be decent, bring her some blood, and talk to her for a bit. If the plan is to kill her, so be it, but I can't just let her rot. I don't have that in me."

"Have it your way, Stefan, even though it doesn't make sense to me. You may actually be being more cruel this way... It's no matter to me. I'm leaving for a couple of days, remember what I told Elena, you remind her to just go on like normal. That's how the plan will all work out."

"That's probably my favourite plan and the easiest one too. It's nice and a major change to just go about things normally Stefan said with a bit of a laugh.

"Goodbye," Elijah said. And then he left.

Stefan went down into the cave and found Katherine on the ground right at the barrier.

"Katherine, get up. Come on, it's Stefan. I brought you some blood. Open your eyes," he said. "Katherine get up," he said, louder.

Her eyes finally opened and he quickly passed her the bottle of blood.

"Drink," he told her.

Now he knew for sure that she was talking to him in his dream. When she had cut off in the dream, she must have passed out and that's why he'd found her on the ground.

She downed the first bottle in less than a minute and she wanted more so he passed her the second bottle too.

"Thanks for coming to see me," she said, giving him a knowing look.

"I couldn't just leave you completely alone down here, could I? Not even you deserve that. I knew you'd want to see me. I _planned_ on coming to see you tomorrow actually, but I came tonight because I kind of just needed to get some air."

Katherine smiled, knowing that he knew she had actually been talking to him as he dreamt.

"You had another visitor before me, Elijah came to see you. He's gone now, he has to go away for a couple days or something."

"Now it'll be only you. Good. You're the only one I want to see anyway," Katherine said. She took a stick from the ground and wrote out "He's really gone?" on the tomb floor.

Stefan wrote "Not sure. He could have come back"

"We'll talk later then," she wrote. "Just keep me company for now, please?"

Stefan looked at her for a moment as if trying to read her and then he nodded .

It felt a bit awkward being down here with her, just sitting with her. Being alone with her wasn't a good idea. Lately being alone with her made him hate her less- almost made him stop hating her, if he was being honest. If he wasn't hating her, it was easier to forget all the bad things she's done, and he couldn't forget that stuff. He would put some trust in her because he believed what she was saying, but he needed to remember who she was so he could never be fooled if she decided somewhere down the road to cause some more trouble. She was good at manipulation. She'd done it to him before after all. She could do it again.

He sat down across from her on the other side of the invisible barrier. He didn't know what to say to her so he remained silent. She did too. The silence didn't bother her at all, though. She just sat and stared at him for awhile. It was pretty easy to just get lost in staring at him.

After awhile he pulled out his phone to check the time. "I've got to go," he told her.

"Gotta get back to Elena," Katherine said.

Stefan didn't answer.

"Thanks for coming, Stefan," she said quietly.

He gave her a nod.

"Have I mentioned that your girlfriend is totally hot? She's got good genes," Katherine said in a tone much more the one that Stefan was used to.

Stefan actually chuckled.

She loved to hear him laugh.

"Goodnight Katherine."

"Sweet dreams, Stefan."

Stefan hurried back to the house. Elena was still asleep. He slowly crawled back into bed and threw his note into the garbage.

He turned on his side so he could look at Elena. She looked stressed- like whatever she was dreaming about was causing her anxiety. Her chest was rising and falling very quickly and her fists were clenched.

Stefan got a bit worried so he tried to gently wake her. Whatever she was dreaming must have been intense because she wasn't waking up. He tried again. "Elena, come on. Wake up," he said, squeezing her hand. This time it worked.

Her eyes shot open as she shot straight up in bed. She was taking deep breaths. "Just a dream," she mumbled. "Just a stupid dream."

"You okay?" Stefan asked her quietly. "You looked like you were having a really bad dream there."

"It was about Klaus. He was here and he was wreaking havoc," Elena said quietly. "It's stupid because Elijah's got a plan and everything's going to be fine."

Stefan wanted to tell her that Elijah was not on their side, but he knew she wouldn't take that well right now. She'd start to worry about everyone again.

"Everything was always going to be fine, with or without Elijah. We would have found a way to keep us all safe, especially you. I'd always keep you safe."

"I know," she said as she moved closer to him.

He reached out and pulled her even closer. Elena gave him a soft kiss on the lips and then got comfy, resting her head on his chest.

Stefan traced his finger in circles on her back. "I love this," Elena whispered. "This should be an everyday occurrence."

"I wholeheartedly agree," Stefan whispered back. "And I do believe that I've been saying it for awhile," he laughed.

"Besides this feeling like the most right thing in the world, I sleep so much better when you're with me," she said as she let out a small yawn.

Stefan laughed. "_Everything_is better when you're with me."

"You're sweet, did you know that?" Elena said, closing her eyes.

"You may have mentioned it once or twice."

"Love you," she said as she drifted off back to sleep.

"I love _you_," he said back, even though he knew she'd just fallen back asleep.

He put his arm around her side and kissed her forehead. He was about to do something he would not have willingly done before. He was going to _let _Katherine into his dreams. He'd do anything it took to keep Elena alive and safe, and if that meant allowing possibly the most manipulative person he'd ever known into his mind- then so be it.

"I'd do anything for you, Elena. I'd die for you," he said, closing his own eyes. And really, with that being a fact, letting Katherine into his dreams didn't seem to be such a big deal after all.


	7. Chapter 7

0-o-0-o-0-o-0-o Here's the new chapter. It's a Stefan/Katherine one. I'm going to move away from the episode focuses now and go my own way, though there will be a couple similarities to some of the newest episodes in later chapters. School is hectic and time consuming so getting out these chapters isn't always easy. I will try to update as often as I can- sometimes it could be a day or two and sometimes it might take me longer. I hope you enjoy this chapter Let me know what you think by leaving me a review 0-o-0-o-0-o-0-o

"_White ash wood, Stefan. That's what you need. If you stab an original with a stake made from white-ash wood, you can kill them. It's very rare, but all my sources say that there are white ash trees here in Mystic Falls. You need to be careful, Stefan, because Elijah will get suspicious if you start doing things out of the ordinary."_

"_Why didn't you tell me about this when I was stuck in the tomb with you?" he asked her._

"_I thought you knew. I thought Elena had told you. She came down here to see me a day or two after I told her all about the sacrifice, and I told her I had a plan that involved white-ash wood. I told her to tell you guys so you could start searching for it and making as many stakes as possible. When I tried to bring it up, you and also Damon made it seem like you just didn't want me involved in the plan. I thought you guys were trying to throw it in my face that you could potentially get rid of Klaus and Elijah without me. I figured I'd just keep my mouth shut and let you guys take care of it," she explained._

"_So you don't want to sacrifice Elena? You don't want her dead?" Stefan asked her._

_If she were to tell him that she would never sacrifice Elena he wouldn't believe her. If she said that she could never just let one of her own die, he wouldn't buy it. He wouldn't believe it and she didn't really want to go there with him. Whatever her intentions and feelings were towards Elena was her business. Elena was not Katherine's favourite person, but she was her family, and family was a subject that had the tendency to make Katherine a bit gentler and more emotional- two things she didn't want to be putting on display for a Stefan who no longer loved her._

_Katherine would always play it off like nothing, but Stefan had the power to hurt her, in a way that no one else_could_ hurt her because she still loved him, so she would stick to the easiest and least emotional answers she could give._

_The intent was to not let herself entertain emotions, to remain cool. She couldn't guarantee that she'd always be able to keep it up around Stefan. As much as she tried to fight and remain the bitch, she would always slip up here and there with Stefan. There was the desire to not appear to be able to be hurt by anything he could say to her, but then there was the need and desire to make him understand that she'd always loved him._

"_I don't want to kill your girlfriend. I want revenge against Elijah and Klaus more than anything, Stefan. Don't worry, you're little Elena is safe. You guys find a way to get me out of here and I'll even help you keep you precious Elena alive. The only thing I truly want that involves Klaus is for him to die. Have I been running for 500 years? Yeah, pretty much. Have I been scared for my existence? Yep, I have. Was I freaked out when I saw Elijah? Yes. Did I tell Elena that she should run away before I told her about the plan with the white ash wood? Yes I did. Did I mean that? Yes I did. Her running now might be the best thing, but I've always had a plan since I've been here and that plan is to kill Klaus and Elijah. And that plan can work. They hunted me, wanted to make me their prey. Well 518 years later- it's about time that I'm the predator and they learn what it's like to be hunted. I'm sick of running," Katherine said, thinking that this answer would be satisfactory for Stefan._

_She wasn't lying either, all that stuff was true, she just didn't mention that she'd never let anything happen to Elena. He didn't need to know that, and he wouldn't believe it right now anyway._

_He's speaking to her, actually speaking- not yelling or throwing insults. He had come by with the blood for her. He had even sat with her for awhile. He had even laughed at her little 'your girlfriend is hot' comment. He didn't hate her right now, and that was good. That was an improvement, but Katherine would always want more than that where Stefan was concerned._

"_Do you have any idea where I should start looking?" Stefan asked her._

"_I'd say start out past old Wickery Bridge. I'd say before that though, find some nature freaks in town, talk to them, find out if they know anything about white-ash. Get one of your little high-school buddies to make contact with the tree huggers or whatever. If it looks like it has something to do with school, the less suspicious anything any of you do will be. If you do end up talking to any people, be ready to use your compulsion and make them forget their conversations with you. And keep me posted," she said._

"_I will," he said and Katherine could tell that he meant it._

"_I won't always be able to do this- come to you in your dreams. It takes a lot of my energy to do it because you're not close by."_

"_How _do_you do it?" Stefan asked her._

"_I guess I can manage it because you know I'm coming and you sort of let me in, that and I've been around for a long time- also I just chugged down a bunch of blood," she said._

"_You think that's why, nothing else?" he asked, honestly curious at this point._

"_It's probably because I'm your- what the hell did they call it on Buffy- sire, that was it. It probably has a lot to do with that," she said awkwardly._

"_That makes sense," he said, a little awkwardly too._

"_I guess I should let you get some actual sleep now. I'm getting a bit tired too."_

"_You'd better not be playing me, Katherine," Stefan said suddenly. "You better not be sending me on a wild goose chase to try to keep us distracted for Klaus with the white-ash wood stuff. If you're lying and if something happens to Elena, I will_never_forgive you- ever. If you're lying and trying to hand her over easier, I promise you that I will kill you. I will _not_lose her. I can't lose her. I love her... _Please _do not make me regret trusting you._Please," Stefan said going from threatening to begging all in the same sentence.

_There was a time when he would have freaked out like that over her too. She'd had his heart like that too, before. His heart was hers long before it was Elena's. Katherine just sighed. "I've told you plenty of things that were true and you refuse to believe them. You don't believe that I love you, which I do, but believe me when I tell you that I'm not playing you, Stefan. I'm really not," she said tiredly._

"_Okay," he said quietly after a few seconds of silence, nodding his head._

"_I'm gonna go now."_

"_I'll bring you some blood tomorrow," he told her._

"_Yeah?"_

"_Yeah," he said. "You're helping. I'm choosing to believe you now. I'm not just going to let you wither away down there."_

_He hadn't really said anything much, but his words went deep inside of her- they touched and prodded at her until the words seemed to make their way to her eyes. They were poking at her eyes from the inside, threatening to come out as tears. She kept her eyes shut, and replayed Stefan's statement again in her head as she quickly said 'goodnight' to him, needing to end the dream quick. She wouldn't let him see her eyes shining, pooling with tears._

All he had said was that he believed her and wouldn't leave her to die. That might not mean much to others, but right now, to Katheirne, it meant the world.

She wiped her eyes with the back of her hand and she let herself smile.


	8. Chapter 8

o-0-o-0-o-0 Here's my new chapter. Thanks to those of you who reviewed the last chapters Hope you enjoy this new one. Leave me a review and let me know what you think o-0-o-0-o-0

"Bonnie!" Elena squealed running down the stairs to see Bonnie.

Elena ran at her friend and Bonnie greeted her in a hug. "Hey you. Did you miss me?" Bonnie grinned.

"Duh," Elena said, laughing.

"Okay, so don't get mad at me or anything, but I kind of lied about where I was for the past couple days," Bonnie started to say.

"So where _have_ you been?" Jeremy asked, coming down the stairs.

"Hey Jeremy," Bonnie said, sighing.

"You weren't with your dad, were you? Got a secret new boyfriend? Is that where you've been for the past two days?" Jeremy asked, annoyed that she wouldn't even really look at him.

"One- leave the witch alone. Two- she _was_ with her dad. There was a funeral," Damon said, seemingly popping out of nowhere.

_Ummm, thanks? That was kinda weird, but thanks._

"Aren't you glad to be home? Death, doom and gloom-Welcome back to the happiest town on earth, Judgey," Damon nodded in greeting.

Bonnie snorted. "Thanks," she responded.

"Aww so sweet," Jeremy said sarcastically. "You and Damon are like best buds now, yet you won't even _look _at me."

"What the _hell _is your problem Jer?" Elena snapped.

_Jeremy Gilbert, keep your mouth shut. I do not need Elena getting mad at me, not for something that never happened._

"Dude, when _I'm_ telling you that you're acting like an ass- you probably should take a step back and shut the hell up because it _really_ means you're acting like an ass," Damon told Jeremy, smacking him upside the head.

"Who's acting like an ass?" Stefan asked, walking into the room.

"Hey Stefan," Bonnie said, relieved, walking over to the younger Salvatore. "Nice to have you out and about," she said, giving him a hug.

"I'm allowed to hug you again?" Stefan whispered, laughing.

"If I'm actually getting along decently with your brother and not wanting to set him on fire- you and me can definitely do the hugging thing," she whispered back, laughing too.

Bonnie and Stefan had been good for awhile, but Bonnie had still been cautious in her friendship with him for quite awhile.

"I need to talk to you later, just you, though."

"Okay," he told her quietly. "And then maybe you can tell me what's going on here, because I have a feeling I walked in on something interesting."

"Interesting- hah, yeah, that's one word for it," Bonnie said as she walked back to Elena.

"No boys allowed," Bonnie said, pulling Elena into the next room. "It's best friend talk time."

"Bonnie," Jeremy called out.

"Yeah?" she said tiredly.

"I'm sorry," he said, meaning it. He knew he acted like an idiot and now he was feeling bad.

"It's okay," she told him, before Elena closed the door so that she and Bonnie could talk alone.

"Hey B- sorry for Jeremy," Elena said. "I don't know what's up with him... Now more importantly, are you okay? Why didn't you tell me you had a funeral? Who passed?"

"I didn't want you to worry and you know, you'd just told me Elijah was getting Stefan out of the tomb, so I didn't want to put a damper on your happy time. It was one of my dad's cousins. I didn't know him well, so I'm alright, mostly sad for my dad. We had the funeral and then I spent the next day with my dad."

"How was that?" Elena asked, knowing that Bonnie's feelings for her dad were always kind of mixed up and that she hadn't seen him for months.

"Nice, I guess," Bonnie said with a little laugh. "Nice, but not deep at all. The conversation was pretty much all superficial- no serious stuff. He's never really been great with the dad stuff, I mean he always makes sure that I don't have to worry about money or anything like that- I'll always credit him there- but the other stuff, you know, he sucks at it, even more since Grams died. Sometimes I feel bad for him, I don't think he ever wanted kids, I think I just kind of happened and when mom left I don't think he knew what to do. He's always made sure I have everything I need, but I honestly wonder if he really loves me sometimes... Okay _wow_, I did not expect to start a mini-rant there. Ignore me," Bonnie laughed.

"One, you can rant to me whenever you want to and two, of course he loves you. You're his kid. Let's be honest, the man sucks at showing you that he loves you, but he _does._And if he didn't we'd need to get him back here ASAP so we could bring him to the crazy hospital, because he'd have to be nuts not to love the awesomeness that is Bonnie," Elena said with a smile.

"Daddy's love is still in question, but yours is not. You're sweet to try to make me feel better. I love you for it... Alright, enough about me and my dad," Bonnie said.

"Consider the subject changed. One more thing, though. Don't do that again," Elena said.

"Do what again?"

"Keep stuff from me because you don't want me to worry or because you don't want to ruin my good mood. If something's up with you- good or bad, I wanna know. I hate being out of the loop and I don't ever want you to think that there's any time I wouldn't want to know what's going on with you or how you're doing or what you're feeling. I love you. I'm always here for you. I've got you- always. Don't ever forget that," Elena told her.

Bonnie just nodded and wiped at her eyes.

"Aww B," Elena said, giving her a smile. "Don't cry," Elena said, hugging her.

"Okay, anyway. I gotta run. I just wanted to come by and tell you what was really up," Bonnie said, wiping at her eyes again. Her eyes just kept watering.

She was glad that Elena's cell phone rang because it meant that she could get out of there without full on crying in front of Elena.

Bonnie walked out of the room, sniffing and wiping her eyes, forgetting that Stefan, Damon and Jeremy were all still in the next room.

"Hey- Bonnie are you okay?" Jeremy asked, coming over to her.

"I'm fine, Jeremy," Bonnie said, putting a hand out from keeping him from coming closer.

"Talk to me, please," he said as Damon and Stefan watched. "I hate this."

Bonnie took a deep breath. "Jeremy, you gotta give me some space. You need to let me breathe. I don't have time for this right now. There's nothing for you to hate- it's not like I'm not talking to you. I'm talking to you right now, aren't I?"

"You know what I'm talking about. I don't just want you to talk to me. I want you and I _know_you feel the same_._You're just scared," Jeremy said, not caring that Stefan and Damon were right there.

"You know what I want Jeremy?" Bonnie said, fuming. "I want you to shut the hell up, get over your damn crush on me, remember that you're my best friend's little brother, and show me some freakin' respect. I told you that nothing would ever happen between us, get that into your head. Process that, understand that. Find a girl your own age. Find a normal girl. Find a girl who isn't your sister's best friend and leave me the hell alone."

"You're not even a full year older than me and you're telling me to find a girl my own age. And you do realize you didn't once say that you didn't want me too," Jeremy said smirking, not leaving her alone.

And then Bonnie slapped him across the face. "There is _nothing _between us. There never was. Cocky idiot doesn't look good on you Jer," Bonnie said, shaking with anger.

"Why are you being so stubborn? It's-" Jeremy started again until both Stefan and Damon told him to leave Bonnie alone at the same time.

"Why is it so wrong that I care about you?" he asked her, coming closer again, the smirk gone.

"The woman told you to shut the hell up and leave her alone. So shut the hell up and leave her alone, you _annoying_ little gnat" Damon said, grabbing Jeremy by the back of his sweater, dragging him to the kitchen.

Bonnie took a deep breath and headed for the door.

"You mind if I walk with you?" Stefan asked Bonnie.

"No," Bonnie said. "You can come. I need to talk to you anyway."

Stefan followed Bonnie out the door.

"First of all, if you say anything to me you can trust that it will stay with me. Second of all, _are_you okay? Third, I'm pretty sure I can figure out what all that was, but could you fill me in? And fourth, what did you need to talk to me about?" Stefan said.

Bonnie, to Stefan's surprise, laughed. "Before I left I told Elena that I was leaving for a couple days to spend time with my dad- it was true but it was because there was a funeral. I didn't want Elena to worry about me and it was the night that you got out of the tomb so I didn't want to ruin the good mood. Anyway, I just came by cuz I just got back a little while ago and I wanted to tell her what was really going on because I don't like keeping things from her and she doesn't like when I keep things from her... Jeremy- yeah I don't even know what to say about that."

"Well, he made it pretty clear he's got feelings for you. What about you?" Stefan asked.

"He's Elena's little brother."

"That doesn't mean that you don't like him back. And though he was being annoying in there, he was right, you never said that you didn't like him back."

"Well, right now, I definitely don't like him. Right now I'm still loving the idea of going to smack him in the face again," Bonnie said.

Stefan laughed.

"Hey," Bonnie said, elbowing Stefan in the stomach.

Stefan just laughed some more.

"So Jeremy's got feelings for you. Something happened and somewhere along the way, he fell for you. You started to like him too, but you tried to keep a certain distance between you because he's younger and cuz he's Elena's brother. Something happened recently, maybe he tried to kiss you or something, you didn't let it happen. You told him that there couldn't be anything between you guys or something. You thought he'd let it go, but he hasn't. That's my guess on you and Jeremy. And I promise I won't say a word to Elena," Stefan said.

Bonnie just stared at him for a minute. "Am I that easy to read?" Bonnie asked him.

"Between what he was saying and what you were saying, it wasn't too hard to figure out," Stefan said with a shrug. "I told you I won't say anything to Elena, and I won't but I've just got to say that you shouldn't be worried about Elena being angry with you or anything like that. I think she'd probably be happy if you and her brother ever did get together."

"It would be awkward as hell Stefan, and I'm not going to risk ruining my friendship with her," Bonnie said. "Plus, if I keep replaying what an idiot Jeremy just was in my head, I'm pretty sure I can get myself to stop liking him."

"Just hear me out," he said with a chuckle. "It's pretty obvious he's really into you. Don't be too hard on him for being a stubborn ass in there. He wasn't trying to make you mad, though he obviously did because he doesn't seem to know when to shut up... Elena loves Jeremy. Elena worries about Jeremy. She hated Vicki with him. She hated Anna with him. She never thought they were good for him and she thought they were dangerous for him. She wants him to be happy. She wants him to be with a great girl. Do you know what she said to awhile back?" Stefan said.

"What?" Bonnie asked him.

"She said, and I quote 'First Vicki and then Anna. Why the hell does he keep falling for girls that are bad for him? I pray that the next girl he falls for is someone decent and sane and drug free and danger free. I almost wish that he'd fall for a friend, then I'd stop worrying about him."

"Elena said that?" Bonnie asked.

"Yep."

"Oh... Well that doesn't mean anything though, I mean, I probably would have said something similar if I was his sister. She just meant that she'd want him with someone trustworthy... Anyway new topic please, this one is making my head ache," Bonnie said.

"Okay I'm shutting my mouth now about that now. But what happened before. Why were you crying?"

"Because I'm worried as hell about Elena and she was just being sweet saying how she'd always be here for me and then I just started bawling like a freak. I don't trust Elijah, Stefan. I think he still plans on helping Klaus with the sacrifice thing- and that was what was in my head when Elena said she'd always be here- they're gonna try to take her away from us. I just have a really bad feeling about this, Stefan. I don't trust Elijah and I don't trust Luka and his dad working for him."

Stefan put a hand on her shoulder. "I don't believe Elijah either. Not at all, not for a second. I don't believe that he's going to protect her or any of us. We're gonna keep her safe, though."

"Thank God someone else is sceptical. Elena was so happy when Elijah told her that he'd keep everyone safe. I know she won't believe us if we tell her that Elijah isn't to be trusted because there's no reason not to trust him. She wouldn't want us working against him or on our own."

"I know," Stefan said. "I told her I was sceptical and she wasn't too happy, so I'm just kind of going to keep my mouth shut and pretend to go along with everything."

"I was thinking about nothing but this Elijah and Klaus business all through the cab ride and the bus ride and I had some ideas. If Klaus is coming to town like I really think he's going to, then we don't stand much of a chance because we don't know how to kill them. I was doing a run down of what they've got vs. what we've got. There's Elijah and Klaus. All we know about them is that they are Originals, which means nothing to me because I don't know what the hell that means either, other than we have no clue how to kill them. At the very least there will be the two of them, but it sounds like there are more of these Originals. Either way, even at just 2 of them it's not good because they could probably take all of us out strength-wise. They've also got those no-good warlock asses on their side. And they're both powerful," Bonnie said, getting angry at the thought of Luka and his dad.

"Then look at us. There's Elena and Jeremy who I don't even want to think about doing any fighting. I don't know how useful Alaric could be. There's Caroline and she's strong now, but she could get ripped to shreds by an Original easily. Then we've got you and Damon and no offense, because normally I'd think that was really good for us, but I don't know how much you guys could do against Originals either. Rose would have been handy but I know she's gone now. Then you've got me which is helpful for some things but I don't know how much I can do either. I mean I could set them on fire and give you guys time to try to decapitate them or something disgusting like that. The point is though, I really don't think we can do this alone, especially because we don't know how to kill these things," she said.

"Okay anyway my point is that I think we need more power both in your department and mine... I'm just gonna come out and say it. I might be crazy for this- I think we need Katherine. She's the strongest and though I hate her, I'll give her her due- she's badass. We need all the help we can get. I know it might sound crazy, but I honestly don't think she wants Elena dead."

To Bonnie's surprise Stefan actually smiled.

Bonnie raised her eyebrow.

"This stays between you and me, okay?" Stefan said.

Bonnie nodded.

"Katherine knows how to kill Originals," Stefan said.

Bonnie's mouth curved into a smile. "Tell me more," she told Stefan.

"Originals can compel other vampires. He compelled Katherine to stay in the tomb until he told her otherwise. The other night he went down to the tomb and he basically told her that he was working with Klaus and that the plan was to still kill Elena-"

"Why would he tell her that?" Bonnie asked sceptically.

"Because he was going to compel her to forget everything but he wanted to see the look on her face when he told her that he had all of us fooled and that he was going to make sure that any Petrova a.k.a Katherine, Elena and Isobel or anyone who was linked to them a.k.a. all of us would be wiped off the face of the planet. But the compulsion didn't work," Stefan told Bonnie.

A smile formed on Bonnie's face. "I knew it. I knew she didn't want Elena dead. Your ex is a bitch but I didn't believe that she could want to sacrifice Elena. Elena's her blood. "

"She said she wanted revenge against Elijah and Klaus," Stefan said. "That's probably more on the side of the truth," Stefan sighed. "Whatever her motivation is, she said she'd help protect Elena- that's what really matters."

"You don't think she actually somehow cares? You think it's really just about getting revenge on them?"

"Oh I think she'll help us keep Elena safe. I believe her on that. I don't know about the rest. I really don't know what Katherine feels for whom or if she really feels anything. Keeping emotions out of things is probably the best bet where Katherine's concerned," Stefan said.

"Okay," Bonnie said.

"You mentioned my department and yours," Stefan started.

"Yeah about that, Lucy's agreed to do whatever she can to help me. I saw her at the funeral. I didn't go into specifics or anything but she made it clear that she's got my back. She'll help if I ask her to."

"And by help, do you mean help you get Katherine out of the tomb? Stefan asked.

"As long as Katherine agrees not to cause trouble and antagonize any of us- give me a bit of time to wrangle up Lucy again and we can have the bitchy one out of the tomb. We could try to break the compulsion with a spell because I have heard that that is possible, or if that doesn't work, between the two us of, I'm sure we could find a way to destroy the tomb and make Elijah's compulsion useless."

Stefan grinned. "Those warlocks aren't going to know what hit them."

"They're strong, Stefan. Especially the dad."

"So are you and so is Lucy, that's for damn sure," he told her.

"I'm good, but I'm not that strong, Stefan. I couldn't even take down the seal myself for a few seconds."

"I honestly think you would have been able to do it. I think you just got so thrown off. You don't give yourself enough credit. You're still new to this. That Luka guy's been at it longer than you and his dad, well yeah, the guy's been around awhile it's not surprising that he's stronger for now."

"For now?" Bonnie asked.

"You're a Bennett, and more specifically you're one of _Emily's_. You come from some strong stock, Bonnie. Every Bennett I've seen is strong, and over the years I've encountered quite a few, but Emily's line is the strongest. Give yourself a bit of time and more practice, Bonnie, and you'll realize the power you have. Maybe Lucy can even help you practice if you want... Anyway, my point is I don't care that they've got two warlocks. We've got two witches. We've got two Bennett witches."

Bonnie gave Stefan a smile. "Thanks for the pep-talk," she laughed.

"If you don't believe me, go ask Damon. He knows more about your family than I do. He kept an eye on the Bennett's for a long time. He can tell you how strong your family is."

"Enough about me, Stefan. Tell me exactly how we an kill an Original. That's what I really want to know right now."

o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-

"Everyone's gone?" Elena asked, hanging up the phone and walking over to Damon.

"Yep. Don't ask where cuz I don't know or particularly care," Damon said, plopping down onto the couch.

Elena went over and sat down next to him. "So, how's everything going with you?" she asked.

"Are you worried about me?" he asked in a mocking tone.

"Yes," she told him.

If it had been most people he was talking to right now he'd be totally sarcastic and tell them to screw off, but this was Elena and even he couldn't be like that with her right now. He was kind of a jerk the last time he saw her. She had been doing her Elena thing and actually giving a crap about him, wanting to know if he was okay but of course he acted like an ass and acted like he didn't care about what had happened with Rose.

Damon almost wished that Elena didn't care about him. Everything would be easier that way. If she didn't care he could hate her for not loving him or caring at all. If she hated him he could always act like an ass. But for whatever reason, she did not hate him. And while she wasn't in love with him like he was with her she did have a love for him and he felt like he needed to deserve it.

It was hard to be good all the time, but to her, for her, he could do it. He would do it. He'd play the good guy. He'd try to be the good guy, but what he did later, things that he would not let her know, bad things as she'd see them, they would balance it all out for him. He could do good if he still got to be bad. What was new about this was that he truly did not want her to know about the bad.

He almost wished she hated him, but the other part of him would not be able to take it if she really did. Elena was near perfection. She had her own flaws here and there, but that made her even more perfect in Damon's eyes.

He wouldn't say it out loud but Elena had done more than just make him feel like he was less than garbage. She made him feel like he was worth something. She'd given him family and friends. He'd admit that only to himself, though. After doing all of these things for him, he could at least reign in being a jerk once in awhile.

"You worry too much. I'm fine, really. Even though you're driving me nuts with this, I know you worry because you care- so for that I say thank you," Damon said.

Elena smiled wide.

"Yeah, smile it out Elena cuz you're probably not going to hear that again," Damon said with a laugh.

Elena just grinned again.

Wanting to change the subject, Damon did. "Soooo what were you and Bon-Bon talking about?"

Elena just laughed. "Okay, subject changed."

"So, really, what did you guys talk about? Judgey looked all emotional when she headed out."

"She just told me about going to the funeral and how she didn't want to get me down. I told her not worry about getting me down cuz I want to know what's going on with her too. I told her I love her."

"You females are so sappy," Damon said, rolling his eyes.

Elena laughed and elbowed him in the ribs.

"I'm a little bit jealous of you," Elena teased

"Oh?" Damon said.

"_You _knew what was really going on with Bonnie and I didn't," she said, sticking her tongue out. "When did you find out anyway?"

"The night Stefan got out of the tomb," Damon said.

"Oh yeah, she said she'd find you and tell you he was out because you weren't answering the phone," Elena said.

"Yeah, she came by. I've got to say Elena, this working together thing we all were doing to keep you nice and safe has actually been pretty good for me," Damon grinned. "I probably should thank you for being all doppelganger-like."

Elena raised her eyebrow in question, looking amused. .

"No brain aneurisms. No getting set on fire. No death glares, and there hasn't even been very much eye-rolling by Bon-Bon. I've had it pretty good for the past little while," Damon said with a grin.

"Well, I'm glad that my status as potential human Petrova sacrifice has made your life easier," Elena said sarcastically, rolling her eyes.

"Hey, I've been behaving too. I've been nice to Judgey. She wasn't doing all of the good stuff," Damon said.

Elena laughed.

"It's nice, really nice to see you guys get along. Seriously," Elena said with a smile. "I like everyone getting along."

"You're pretty easy to please," Damon said.

"We don't need to worry about this Klaus stuff anymore, so you guys don't really need to work together- but I want you to do me a favour, okay? Please," she said.

"And what would that be?" Damon asked.

"Don't start fighting with Bonnie just because you don't actually have to work together anymore. Be nice to her. I know you know how to do that because I've seen it."

Wanting to get a bit of a rise out of Elena Damon said, "What about if she's the one to be mean first."

"Don't start Damon," Elena sighed. "Don't drive her nuts and she'll be okay to you."

"Okay, now I'm just trying to annoy you," he admitted and Elena couldn't help but laugh.

"Don't ever tell her I said this because I will deny it to the end, but Judgey's been cool, she even helped out Rose a bit before she went to see her dad. I'll play nice with her- don't worry."

"She helped Rose?" Elena asked curiously, feeling extra warmth for Bonnie.

"Yeah when she came by to tell me about Stefan being out. She saw Rose and asked if the bite was hurting and Rose told her yes. Bonnie said that if the bite was going to kill Rose she couldn't do anything about it but she said she could probably make the pain go away for awhile if Rose wanted her to. Rose actually really liked her. Bonnie didn't have to help, but she did. It was really decent of her."

Elena smiled. "That's good."

"Sooooo what's on your agenda today?" Damon said, moving onto another topic.

"We're having some sort of relatives over. Don't ask me how they're related exactly because I never remember."

"Do you need any company while you entertain these relatives?" Damon asked, hopeful.

"What are you trying to get out of?" Elena asked him, laughing.

"That obvious?"

"Yep," Elena grinned.

"I'm supposed to go see Carol Lockwood. I'm not really in the mood for the headache," Damon complained. "Will you save me?" he asked dramatically.

"No, I will not," Elena said, still laughing.

"You're not being a very good friend right now Elena. You're supposed to be here for me. You're supposed to have my back... Maybe Bon-Bon will save me," Damon said, loving the sound of Elena's laugh.

"Yeah, let me know how that goes," Elena said, pushing him towards the door.

"You suck," he said, giving her a nod.

"Bye Damon," Elena said smiling.

Damon exited and Elena sat back down on the couch, still smiling. It was nice to see Damon in a good mood and joking. She really loved to see him happy. He was doing well and she was proud of him. Elena was glad that she hadn't given up on him, really glad. And she was happy that he was being more open with her. It meant a lot that he was trying. She knew that he wasn't so used to having friends and she was really happy that he was acknowledging that they were friends- that he appreciated that she cared. It was good to know that she hadn't been completely nuts for believing that there was good in him.

o-o-o-o-o-o-o

Katherine sat in the tomb thinking about Klaus and Elijah. She grinned as she pictured watching them die at her hands. She would get her revenge. She would make them pay for all they'd done. She'd make them pay for all they'd taken away from her. She would make them regret everything.

Those thoughts sustained Katherine for most of the morning. And then of course, like it always did, her mind wandered back into the past.

"_Do you love me as I love you?" Damon asked Katherine._

"_Well I'm not sure exactly how you love me, so no, I suppose not," she answered, a little bit surprised that he had used the word love._

_She felt a bit sorry that he had fallen for her to a point where he would say love and mean it in such a short while of knowing her, especially when those feelings were not returned._

_Damon looked very disappointed. He looked hurt. Katherine knew that what she was doing with the two brothers was not right- but too bad. The intent wasn't to hurt them, even though she knew she sometimes did._

_She favoured Stefan. If she could ever only have one of them, he was the one she wanted. She was only playing around with Damon even though she'd grown fond of him. With Damon, for her, it was like a friendship, something that she hadn't had much of, especially males, with a naughty twist._

_With Stefan, she had felt things that she'd never felt before. She didn't even understand it all. All that she knew was that nothing was going to take the younger Salvatore from her. Stefan was hers and she would not be giving him up._

"_Oh do not look so disappointed, Damon," she said gently. No matter what she thought about what was going on between herself and Damon, she didn't want to cause him unnecessary pain. "We cannot all have the exact same feelings. Would that not be a little bit crazy and quite boring?"_

"_I suppose," he admitted, looking a bit happier. She hadn't said anything about returning his feelings yet somehow, like she knew it would, this answer made him happy._

Katherine was brought out of her memories at the sound of someone coming to see her. She was quite surprised when she saw Bonnie Bennett approaching.

Katherine was about to speak when Bonnie put her finger to her lips in a sign that she should be quiet. Bonnie pointed towards the ground. Writing just started to appear in the dirt.

'Keep your mouth shut. Elijah is around. Do you want to get out of here? Just nod or shake your head.'

Katherine nodded. _Duh!_

'You better not be lying about what you told Stefan. Just nod or shake your head again. Is your goal really just to kill Elijah and Klaus? Did you really mean it when you told Stefan you'd help protect Elena?'

Another nod.

'Trust me when I tell you that I will find a way to end you if you're trying to screw us over.'

Katherine rolled her eyes.

'As long as you agree to play nice and not go out on any Mystic Falls killing sprees I'll get you out of here.'

Katherine could honestly say that she hadn't expected that. She heard another noise. Someone else was coming in. She nodded to the direction behind Bonnie, hoping she would get the hint. Bonnie just nodded and then started to talk as she made a few more words appear in the dirt.

'Is Elijah here?'

Katheirne gave a slight nod.

"Oh, look who has finally opened her eyes. Did you have a nice little sleep you selfish bitch?" Bonnie asked.

Katherine couldn't help but smirk.

"I went to my Grams' house today and there was actually mail for her. Mail for my dead grandmother- my dead because of you grandmother."

"It's not my fault Damon was obsessed with me," Katherine said. "You should blame him."

"I did blame him. For months I blamed him- but when you really look at it, it all goes back to you. You and your selfishness. That idiot wanted to save you and you never even gave a crap about him. So the way I see this now is that all the blame, I can shove it all on to you. So I just came down here to let you know that you can be expecting more visits from me to get your daily dose of a bitching out. I hope you rot in here," Bonnie said, knowing that Elijah had walked in.

She took a breath before turning around, knowing that she would come face to face with Elijah. She would need to act surprised.

Sure enough, when she turned around she bumped into Elijah.

"What the hell?" Bonnie said.

"Hello," Elijah said, amused.

"Hello. Who are you?" Bonnie asked, putting on an annoyed tone.

"Well Bonnie Bennett, I'm Elijah."

"Oh, well in that case, come take a walk with me. I want to talk to you."

Elijah grinned, amused with Bonnie.

"Alright, friend of Elena, I'll walk with you. Do you feel better now?"

"Huh?" Bonnie asked.

"Did yelling at Katerina make you feel better?"

"Oh, you heard that?" Bonnie asked, making sure to sound a bit surprised.

Elijah laughed. "Don't be embarrassed about your behaviour. That woman infuriates us all. I'm sure she deserved it," he said, walking with Bonnie out and back into the woods.

"She's got some of you in her after all, Emily," Katherine said, laughing out loud as the young witch exited with Elijah.

o-o-o-o-o-o-

"So you really want to keep Elena safe?"

"Yes Bonnie. I do," Elijah said. "For the fourth time."

"She's my best friend. I needed to hear it for myself. You can't blame me for being cautious," Bonnie said.

"No, I guess not."

"Okay, I believe you," Bonnie said, smiling. "This is awesome."

"I'm glad," Elijah said, returning the smile.

_Oh man, this guy is good. He's an awesome liar. Smooth. Smooth. Smooth._

"Okay, well I've got to go. I'm meeting my friend later but I've got some stuff I need to do first. I want to get it done so Caroline doesn't give me the third degree about being late later on."

"Well off you go then," Elijah said.

Before she headed off she forced another smile. "Thank you Elijah."

"You're welcome."

_These idiots are so gullible. When Klaus gets here we're going to wipe them all out so easily._

"I'll see you around," Bonnie said, waving to him.

_Stupid dumbass. We're going to bring you and your buddy Klaus down._

o-o-o-o-o-o-

Caroline was a bit freaked out right now, freaked out and nervous. She'd just seen Tyler and he hadn't said one word to her. He just glared at her for a good minute before walking away.

Caroline picked up her phone and dialled Stefan.

"Hey Caroline," he answered.

"Are you busy right now? Do you think you could come meet me? I'm a bit worried. Tyler just-"

"Caroline?" Stefan said. "Caroline, where'd you go? What happened?"

The line went dead.

He immediately called her back. No answer.

Stefan got a very bad feeling.

_Okay, just think. The phone battery might have died. It doesn't mean anything bad happened. Okay, Bonnie said that she was supposed to see Caroline today. Call Bonnie. Maybe she's with her._

Stefan dialled Bonnie's phone.

"Hello," she answered.

"Hey Bonnie. Is Caroline with you?"

"No not yet. Our big first actual official hanging out and getting back to our normal friendship date hasn't begun yet. Why?"

"I've got a really bad feeling right now. She just called me, asking if I could meet her. She said she was worried and she mentioned Tyler and she really _sounded_ worried and then the phone just cut off. She's not with Elena, I know that because I just got off the phone with her before Caroline called."

"Okay, tell me where you are and I'll come meet you. In the meantime you call Damon and see if she's with him while I try her house," Bonnie said.

"Okay," Stefan answered, telling her where he was and hanging up. He dialled Damon next and Caroline was not with him either. He told Damon to come and meet him.

Bonnie called him back a minute later. "She's not home. But let's not freak out completely yet," Bonnie said, trying to keep her emotions in check.

Truthfully, she was scared right now. A lot of bad thoughts were running through her head. She was really scared for Caroline. She only hoped that she and Stefan were over-reacting. "She was either at the mall or she was out not far from Wickery Bridge."

"How do you know?" Stefan asked.

"When I talked to her last she said her plans for the day before seeing me were some shopping and head-clearing. Shopping equals the mall. Head-clearing equals walking aimlessly or heading to a specific spot near Wickery Bridge. Us and Elena called it our head-clearing place."

"Okay," Stefan said, trying to keep calm. "I've got another line, hold on."

Stefan picked up the other line.

"We've got you're little blonde friend. Come and find us. We're not in the public eye. That's the only clue you'll get. You'd better hurry up because we're having quite a bit of fun with her." And then the person hung up as Stefan heard Caroline's scream through the line.

Stefan went back to the line with Bonnie. "Someone's got her. They're hurting her. I heard her scream. I think the werewolves have her. They're in the woods somewhere. Damon's coming to meet me. Just stay where you are. I don't want you getting hurt in case this goes badly," he said, hanging up the phone.

"I think the wolves have her," Stefan said as Damon arrived. "Let's go."

"Oooh good," Damon said, tagging along a speeding Stefan.

"Excuse me?"

"Not good that they've got Blondie, good that it's werewolves. I'm in the mood to kill me some of those."

"Whatever, let's hurry up and find her."

o-o-o-o-o-o-o

Caroline felt like she was dying. Everything hurt and it kept hurting. She'd been stabbed with a bunch of stakes and was doused water full of vervain and had even been shot with wooden bullets. She was in agony. Her body could not handle anymore. She thought that she would break into tiny pieces at any moment. She didn't even know where she was. She hadn't been able to open her eyes until now.

She was in some sort of cage. She recognized one of the two people in front of her- the woman. That was Jules. Tyler's uncle's friend. But the man, she had no idea about.

When he saw that her eyes were open he shot her again and then threw some more vervain-laced water at her. She screamed in pain.

o-o-o-o-o-o-

"Follow the screaming," Damon said as he and Stefan ran to find Caroline.

Stefan was too focused to respond to his brother. They had to get to her fast before they could hurt her anymore. They would make these guys pay for screwing with Caroline. He had promised Caroline that he'd always look out for her and he meant it.

o-o-o-o-o-o-

"Just stay where you are, yeah freakin' right," Bonnie said out loud as she ran into the woods.

She didn't know where they were, but she was going to find them. Her friend was in trouble. There was no way she was going to stay put.

o-o-o-o-o-o-

Tyler could not move. He couldn't do anything. He was too shocked. Caroline was yelling in pain as she kept getting stabbed and shot and sprayed at. He wanted to help her, but she was supposed to be bad according to Jules and Brady. She was involved in his uncle's death, right? But he couldn't watch them hurt her

"Stop it," Tyler said weakly. "Leave her alone

"Shut up. She's a bad guy," Brady told him as she shot her again.

"She's a bad guy, really? Then what the hell does that make you- the bastard who's shooting and stabbing her?" Stefan yelled, vamping out and going after Brady.

Damon spotted that Jules bitch and he grinned as he went after her. "_You're_ gonna get bit this time," he hissed.

Before Stefan or Damon knew what was going on the crowd got a lot bigger and now they were being shot at.

Jules and Brady had back-up.

"Tyler, help me. Please," Caroline said as she was doused with the vervain water again.

Tyler was frozen. He just didn't know what to do.

Stakes were shot at both Stefan and Damon but they caught them mid-air and threw them back at the wolf back-up, taking two of them out.

"Caroline, it's gonna be fine," Stefan yelled as he fought off some more guys. He wanted to get Brady so bad.

Stefan and Damon were pretty much cleaning the floor with the wolves until they were both caught off guard by a few more wolf back-up popping up out of nowhere.

There was hooting and laughing from the wolves as the stakes found their marks with Stefan and Damon.

Stefan and Damon pulled out the stakes and got back up, a little shaky.

o-o-o-o-o-o-

Bonnie's side was sore as hell from all the running she'd just done. But she did it, she found them. And she felt like something inside of her just broke. She could hear Caroline's screams and see Stefan and Damon struggling to get up. These wolf- people were monsters and they were going to pay. Caroline kept screaming and the hate for the wolves kept rising.

Stefan and Damon lunged at those nearest to them, even in their weakened state they were still strong even though outnumbered.

As Damon and Stefan tried to fight off those that surrounded them Brady still terrorized Caroline who was freely crying at this point. She was so scared, not only for herself but for Stefan and Damon who had come to help her.

Brady was getting ready to shoot her again and she was preparing to really die this time, but nothing came and then Caroline opened her eyes again. There were yells of agony, but they weren't coming from her this time and they weren't coming from Damon or Stefan either.

All of the wolves had fallen to their knees and were clutching their heads. And then she saw her. Bonnie had come and it meant the world to Caroline. She hoped Bonnie could see her smiling through the pain right now, because she couldn't speak. She couldn't say thank you because she didn't even have that left in her right now. Caroline kept her smile plastered on her face as long as she could, until she couldn't even manage that anymore. She felt whatever life she had left leaving her body. It only took a minute for everything to go black, she had nothing left.

"Caroline!" Bonnie screamed. "No! No! Oh my God, no!

Bonnie thought she was having a heart-attack right now. She was trying to keep the multiple wolfy-aneurisms going so Stefan and Damon could deal with the wolves and she was trying to magic the cage door off from it's hinges all while her heart was racing and threatening to fly out of her chest.

The door flew off of the cage and she shook Caroline. "Come on Care, open your eyes. Forbes," she said, shaking her harder. "Open your eyes," Bonnie said.

She started pulling out the wooden bullets and stakes the werewolf bastards that put into her. "Open your eyes Care Bear," Bonnie shrieked, tears flowing from her eyes.

Everything was getting blurry for Bonnie. Bonnie grabbed the first sharp thing she could find and she cut her wrist. "Here," she screamed. "Take it. Take my damn blood," she said, shoving her wrist in Caroline's mouth. "Take it," she wailed. "Don't you dare leave me and Elena. Don't you dare."

And then Bonnie felt something. She wasn't sure what it was. Was Caroline awake now? Was she taking her blood? Did Stefan and Damon deal with the rest of the wolves? She had no clue what was going on except that everything had gone completely black. Darkness enveloped her.

_Am I dying?_

o-o-o-o-o-o-o-

Elena sat at the dinner table with her relatives, trying to fight the urge to vomit. She had a very bad feeling. She was worrying about- she didn't even know what she was worrying about, and it was making her sick to her stomach. She felt like something disastrous was happening. She had to get up and excuse herself from the table. She ran to the telephone and started dialling numbers. No one was answering.

Elena raced out the door without any explanation to the guests or Jenna or Jeremy.

She couldn't just stay home right now. Something was happening and she was scared to death that it had been something terrible.


	9. Chapter 9

o-0-o-0-o-o Here's the new chapter. Thank you for the reviews. Hope you like this chapter. Leave me a review to let me know what you think. Reviews give me motivation to update quicker o-0-o-0-o-o

All the werewolves were either dead or had run away, Tyler included. Stefan and Damon finally had the chance to look over at Bonnie and Caroline and it did not look good at all.

"Shit. Shit. Shit," Damon muttered as he followed Stefan running towards the girls. "You grab Blondie, I've got Judgey."

Stefan picked up Caroline. She had blood on her lips. "Is Bonnie okay?" Caroline asked, barely able to whisper.

"Okay Bennett, time to open your eyes now," Damon said.

"She did too much," Caroline choked out. "She brought all the wolves to their knees and she gave me her blood. Hurry up, give her some blood," Caroline mumbled before her eyes closed and head fell back again.

"Okay Judgey, take it," Damon said, biting his wrist and putting it to her mouth. "Oh for God's sake you're even stubborn when you're half-dying," he said, pushing his wrist to her lips again. "Swallow it, dammit," he said, literally shoving his wrist into her mouth now to make sure the blood went down her throat.

When Bonnie showed no immediate signs of improvement Damon forced more blood down her throat. "Okay seriously witchy it's time to open your eyes cuz you're actually freaking me out right now," Damon said as he and Stefan ran with the girls towards their house.

o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o

Elena was pacing back and forth in front of Stefan and Damon's house. She had just come back from running to Caroline and Bonnie's houses. No one was home. No one was answering the phone. Her heart was racing and the sick feeling in her stomach would not go away.

She'd left Bonnie, Caroline, Stefan and Damon numerous messages each. It was too much of a coincidence that _none __of them_were answering their phones. She even called the hospital pathetically asking if there had been any accidents and if anyone had been brought in. She'd called the number Elijah had given her but there was no answer from him either. She had hoped to get a hold of him and get him to make sure they were all okay because he had guaranteed to keep those she loved safe.

Everything felt completely wrong and she couldn't do anything to fix it because she didn't even know what the hell was going on.

And then all of the sudden Stefan and Damon were in front of her holding Caroline and Bonnie in their arms.

"Oh my God," Elena said, water immediately pooling in her eyes.

"Please tell me they're okay," Elena said following the brothers upstairs.

They placed the girls on the bed.

"Bon-Bon's still not opening her eyes, little brother, you give her some of your blood too," Damon said. "I'm gonna go grab a blood bag for Blondie, maybe it'll help her open her eyes again," Damon said, speeding out of the room.

"Screw the blood bag," Elena said, making a cut on her own hand, watching Stefan give his blood to Bonnie.

Elena brought her hand to Caroline's mouth. 'Take it Caroline. Come on, open you're eyes," She said. "Stefan why isn't Bonnie waking up," Elena said, panicking even more.

"Elena?"

Elena looked down at Caroline, who'd opened her eyes.

"Hey you," Elena smiled, wiping at her eyes.

"Bonnie, come on. Open your eyes. You've got to be okay," Stefan said, smashing his fist down on the table by the bed.

"Stefan, could you move please?" Elena said. "Care, can you get up?"

"Yeah," the blonde answered.

"Remember when us three did that stupid blood bond thing a few years ago?" Elena said, not able to help to help the constantly flowing tears.

Caroline nodded.

"Maybe you and me can help her better? It's probably the stupidest thing ever, but I have no other ideas."

"Nothing is stupid right now," Caroline said gently.

"Okay, um I remember Bonnie talking about channelling or something- like she can draw energy from the elements- like water and stuff. Human bodies are full of water- she could kind of channel me, right? Like I'll mix my blood with yours and you give it to her and then I'll hold on to her and if the blood makes her a bit stronger she can borrow strength from me. Let's try that," Elena said.

Elena sat on one side of Bonnie and Caroline on the other. Caroline, still feeling very weak and light-headed bit her wrist. Elena's hand was still bleeding. She put her bleeding hand against Caroline's bleeding wrist and then Caroline brought her wrist to Bonnie's mouth as Elena gripped Bonnie hand with both of hers.

Damon was already back, but like Stefan, he just watched the girls silently.

"Come on B," Caroline and Elena said at the same time.

Elena began to worry all over again when about a minute passed and there was no sign of response from Bonnie but then Bonnie's eyes slowly opened and Elena felt immense relief.

"Care, Elena. Hey girlies," Bonnie said wanting to see them smile or hear them laugh.

They did, and then Elena's hand shot to her mouth "And now I really need to go puke," she mumbled as she rushed to the bathroom.

Bonnie and Caroline burst out laughing and then Caroline cursed as a small pain shot up in her side.

"You okay?" Bonnie asked her.

"Yeah, still some pain though," Caroline said. "But much better than before... Thank you _so _much Bonnie," Caroline said, her eyes beginning to water. "I didn't know if you'd ever feel- if we'd ever- if you still-"

"Stefan," Elena called from the bathroom. "I've got a toothbrush in your room, can you get it for me, please?"

Stefan went to grab it for her and was back in a flash.

"Shut up C," Bonnie said, wiping at her own eyes, which had also started to water. "We're golden again babe, okay? I love you- fangs and all. I never stopped, I just needed- - it doesn't even matter. The second I heard you were in trouble I freaked, and then when I heard you screaming and I saw that bastard hurting you, all I could think of was that there was no way he was going to keep hurting you. I don't know what I'd do if anything ever happened to you and Elena."

Caroline didn't say anything because she thought she was going to start blubbering all over again, so she just grabbed Bonnie and hugged her.

"Holy crap you are such girls," Damon said.

"Yay," Elena said with a smile coming out of the bathroom. _"That's _what I want to see," she told Bonnie and Caroline.

"Get your ass over here Elena," Caroline said. "Group hug."

Elena laughed as she made her way back to her friends who grabbed her and pulled her to them.

"Okay now, someone tell me what the freaking hell happened?" Elena said. "I'm sitting at home at the table with Jenna and Jer and the relatives and then all of the sudden all I feel is like something's gone wrong. I feel sick to my damn stomach and I just know something bad was happening. It was dread. I know something disastrous was going on but I had no clue what. I started to feel like somebody died. I called all of you so many times and none of you picked up. Then I knew for _sure_ something happened. I ran out of the house without saying anything. I was freaking out- and _obviously _I was right. Something bad happened. What was it?"

"Well I had just seen Tyler, but it was weird. He didn't say a word to me, but we were staring right at each other. He just glared at me for like a good minute straight. It freaked me the hell out and I started to get worried. I thought that maybe that werewolf chick told him something about me knowing about his uncle being dead or that he found out about Stefan and Damon and he was pissed that I lied and said I was the only vampire around. Whatever he did know, I don't know, but I really got freaked out and I called Stefan cuz I wanted to tell him that maybe Tyler knew about him and Damon. I just didn't know what to do," Caroline said.

"She called me and managed to get out that she saw Tyler and that she was kind of worried and needed to talk. The line went dead and I got worried," Stefan said.

"I didn't know who it was at the time, but they shot me with some wooden bullets and they grabbed me. I'll spare you the rest of the details and just say that they hurt me a lot," Caroline told her.

Elena bit her lip. "You still hurting now?" she asked quietly.

"A little," Caroline admitted. "But these three saved my ass," she said, referring to Stefan, Bonnie and Damon.

"Stefan called me because he was worried that something happened to Caroline after the phone went dead. He knew that she wasn't with you because he'd talked to you just a few minutes before and he knew that I was supposed to see Care today anyway, he thought she might be with me, but she wasn't. That's how I got involved. He was worried, I got worried. I was supposed to meet him but then whoever took her had called Stefan and then he and Damon headed off to find her. Stefan actually thought I was going to stay put. Needless to say that didn't happen. I ran through the woods like I've never run in my life and eventually I found these three," Bonnie said.

"We were fighting with a whole lot of werewolf douche-bags. Me and baby bro were doing pretty well if I do say so- killed a bunch of them and then even more of them showed up. Shot us with some stakes which wasn't so great but we got up- ready for more even though they outnumbered us considerably, then before we know it the dogs are all falling to their knees clutching their heads. Bon-Bon was pretty badass," Damon said.

"I thought I was going to die by that point, I really did, but Bonnie and I was so happy. Then everything just went black, they'd done so much to me, I guess my body couldn't take it," Caroline said.

"I ran to Caroline. I was freaking out. I was trying to keep the wolves down so Stefan and Damon could deal with them more easily while I was still trying to use magic to pull the cage door off its hinges-"

"And she gave me her blood," Caroline added, telling Elena.

"Yeah and just to clarify, that's a one time thing darling. I'm hoping you and death and danger stay far away from each other from here on out," Bonnie said with a smirk.

Caroline let out a laugh.

"I guess I did too much because before I knew it I was wondering if I was dead," Bonnie said. "But obviously everything's better now. So everything's good," Bonnie added quickly.

"I'm glad you're all okay," Elena said, shaking her head.

"Another day in the happiest town on earth," Damon said sarcastically.

"Yeah, nothing bad _ever _happens here," Stefan added with a laugh.

"Your pockets glowing Elena," Damon said.

Elena looked down, it was her phone. "Shit," she cursed. "Jenna's probably freaking out."

"Go answer the phone. We're not gonna vanish on you babe," Bonnie said.

"Okay," Elena said with a little laugh. She left the room to talk to her aunt.

"I'm so hungry right now," Bonnie said. "Please tell me you have _actual_ food here."

Stefan let out a laugh. "I think I'll be able to find you something."

"I'll come with you. I need to raid the mini blood bank in the basement," Caroline said, getting up, following Stefan out the door.

Bonnie heard Elena's voice rising. "I don't care Jenna. I don't even like them. It's more important that I'm with my friends right now than with relatives I don't like and can never remember exactly how they're even related to us... Oh come on Jenna, don't pull that card, you know I love you," Elena said.

"E just go home for a bit. Make Jenna happy and then come back. Everything's fine," Bonnie called out.

o-o-o-o-o-o-o

"You should just order some pizza," Caroline said, downing the bag of blood quickly.

"I think that's the best idea," Stefan said, picking up the phone to place an order.

"Are you okay- like really?" Stefan asked Caroline when he got off the phone.

"I'll be okay," she told him. "It all could have been a lot worse. I could really be dead if you guys hadn't shown up. Thank you for that by the way. Thank you for coming for me," Caroline said quietly, replaying all of the events in her head.

"You're welcome, but of course I'd come for you. I told you, I got your back, remember?" he said, pulling her into a hug.

"I was _so_ scared," Caroline admitted quietly. "And Tyler wouldn't even help."

"Don't think about him right now, Caroline. Try to focus on the good stuff."

Caroline nodded.

o-o-o-o-o-o-o-

"I will be back in an hour," Elena said, annoyed as she headed out and back to her house.

"Now it's just you and me alone in my bedroom Bon-Bon," Damon said with a smirk. "And you're already on my bed."

Bonnie rolled her eyes and threw a pillow at him, starting to get up.

"Just stay on the bed Bennett," Damon said as she got up.

Bonnie put her feet on the ground and immediately felt her knees buckle.

"I told you to stay on the bed," Damon said, getting to her before she fell. "Let yourself relax for a bit, you were practically dead there for awhile Judgey."

"I'm sure it wasn't that bad," Bonnie said.

"Oh yes it was, trust me little witch. You collapsed to the ground. You didn't have a heartbeat for a bit. The blood I shoved down your throat, more than once might I add, didn't seem to help anything. Stefan gave you some of his blood too. You didn't seem to get better. Elena was really scared, nothing seemed to work. Then she had the idea to mix some of her blood with Caroline's because of some blood-bond thing you three did awhile back. Caroline gave you her blood with some of Elena's in it while Elena held onto you with her other hand. She wanted to see if you'd be able to draw energy from her," Damon said.

"I guess it was a little bad," Bonnie admitted.

Damon just shook his head and laughed.

"I'm only going to say this once, so listen closely. And if you tell anyone that I said it, I will deny it," Bonnie said to Damon.

Damon raised his eyebrow, curious.

"Thank you," she said.

Damon grinned.

"What's a little blood between friends?" Damon replied with a wink.

Bonnie bit her lip awkwardly.

"You still can't bear to say it, can you?" Damon laughed. "We've become buddies Bon-Bon," he grinned.

"Well, umm if that's what we are now- which I am neither confirming or denying, it's not like I have to say the word. If we are, we are," Bonnie said half way between a reluctant grin and a cringe.

"I'll take that," Damon laughed. "Okay, I'm actually going to be serious for a second. I'm really curious, did my blood really not do anything for you at all, or Stefan's? Vampire blood is supposed to heal. We both gave you our blood and there were no signs that you were getting any better."

"It must have done something because I felt blood go down my throat like 4 or 5 times. I did a lot- my system kind of shut down. You can't really expect that my eyes would fly open right away. I don't know if it's that Care and Elena's blood did something more than yours and Stefan's did- it could be, or maybe I was able to draw some of Elena's energy. Or it could just be that I needed a lot of blood to get me going again and when Caroline did it it was enough," Bonnie said.

Damon shrugged.

"Okay, I'm just gonna say this really quick and then it's over. I don't need a response. I'm not expecting a response. If you want to respond and not be sarcastic or jerky about it then go ahead, but otherwise I'm just going to say it and move onto another topic real quick," Bonnie said.

Damon looked at her curiously.

"I'm sorry about Rose. Sorry if you're sad or whatever. If you're not sad or feeling bad then I'm just sorry for her," Bonnie blurted out awkwardly.

Damon fought the urge to smile a bit.

Bonnie took the lack of response as her cue to move on which she did gratefully because she didn't really want to have to have that sort of talk with Damon.

"So, I never got to see, but did you guys get rid of the rest of the wolf-men and that one bitch?" Bonnie asked.

"Tyler and the bitch got away and another one, but the rest of them, let's just say you won't ever be seeing them again," Damon said, grinning widely.

"The one guy that was specifically hurting Caroline- did you guys get him?" Bonnie asked.

"Yep."

"Good," Bonnie said.

"So no getting on me about spilling blood and killing?" Damon asked, teasing.

"I warned you about innocents Damon, he wasn't innocent. I'm sure as hell not shedding any tears for him, especially considering that Iwanted to kill him too."

"Well be happy that you at least caused him a whole lot of pain for awhile there with your witchy aneurisms," Damon said. "By the way, I think you should give me some credit there."

"For what?" Bonnie asked.

"You got so good with the supernatural brain aneurisms because of _me _thank you very much. Do you not recall all of the practice you did on me?" Damon said and Bonnie snorted with laughter.

"Since we're being all buddy-buddy right now I'm gonna ask you something," Damon said.

"And what is that?"

"You okay after before, you know with Mr. Obsessed? You looked about ready to send him flying through the wall," Damon said, talking about Jeremy.

"I wanted to send him flying through the wall," Bonnie said, taking a breath.

"So, you're not gonna give the brat a chance?" he asked.

"You almost sound like you think I should," Bonnie said, laughing sarcastically.

"I don't blame you for not wanting to let him get in your pants, as annoying as the kid is I'll say this much for him, I don't think he'd ever do you wrong."

"Who are you not letting get in your pants B?" Caroline asked, coming in holding pizza.

Bonnie put her head in her hands and Stefan just shook his head.

"I've got to run out for a bit," Stefan said.

"You're going to leave me alone with these crazies and no Elena as back-up?" Bonnie said, dramatically.

"If they start to really make you crazy, call me and I'll run back to straighten them out, Stefan said, grinning.

"Stefan," Bonnie said, before he headed out the door.

"Yeah?"

"Thanks."

"Don't mention it," he said. "You helped us out plenty too tonight."

"Soooooo B, I've been meaning to ask you- what the hell is up with you and Jeremy," Caroline said.

"This night is just gonna be soooooo much fun," Bonnie mumbled, whimpering a bit.

o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-

Katherine was pacing around in the tomb. Where was Stefan? She might just be being stupid but she had a feeling like something had happened to him and Damon too. Stefan was supposed to come see her today and bring her blood and he still hadn't come- that coupled with the bad feeling she had made her mind wander and think about what could have happened to him today and then it made her remember the last time she had a bad feeling about something happening to him.

_Katherine pushed Mason away from her._

"_Oh come on. What's wrong?" he asked her, getting up and putting his arm around her._

_She shrugged him off. "Leave me alone right now," she said, getting off the bed and throwing on some clothes._

"_You're just gonna get up and leave right now? We were in the middle of something that I would _really _ like to finish," Mason said._

"_Go take a cold shower," she told him, heading for the door, grabbing her bag._

"_You're not even gonna tell me where you're going."_

"_No," she said. "I'm not sure exactly when I'll be back. I'll call you at some point," she said, shutting the door behind her._

_She had gotten this feeling of absolute dread. It had come out of nowhere. It was a pain, sharp and sudden and it made her automatically think of Stefan. Somehow she knew that something bad was happening to him. She needed to get to Mystic Falls as soon as possible. _

_It didn't take her long to get to the town. She didn't know where he was so the first place she checked was his house. He wasn't there. Neither was Damon._

_She started to make her way around the town in a panic. It didn't take too long before she founf a couple vampires that she recognized from back in 1864. They weren't the sharpest tools in the shed back in the day, and it didn't look like that had changed at all. _

_They were laughing and talking and Katherine heard Stefan's name. She pulled out the stake she had in her bag and shoved it straight through one of the vampire's hearts. _

_The other one's eyes widened in shock. "Katherine," he mumbled, scared._

"_Tell me what I want to know or I'm going to make you wish that I had only staked you," she hissed, gabbing hold of his neck. "Don't bother trying to fight me you moron, I've been around a lot longer you. If you fight I'll only make this worse for you."_

_The guy just nodded._

"_What happened to Stefan?" she asked._

"_Your Stefan, from back in the day?"_

"_Yes _my _Stefan, you idiot. Why the hell would I care about what happened to some other Stefan?"_

"_He and Damon pissed some of us off- not me though," the guy quickly said. "They grabbed him and basically put him through a torture session."_

"_Where is Stefan right now? Is he okay?" Katherine asked. _

"_Your other little boy-toy and your little twin and some guy came. Stefan left with the girl."_

"_He's okay?"_

"_I said he left, didn't I?" the guy said._

"_Don't be a smartass with me," she warned. _

"_I guess he's okay. I don't know. I know he's not dead- or at least he wasn't before. Maybe someone got to him and the girlfriend when they left and finished them off, who knows," the male vampire said with a shrug._

"_So, how do you know all this?" Katherine asked with a wicked grin. _

"_Umm, I... I was only in the house, I swear. I didn't do anything to him personally."_

"_But you were there?" she asked._

"_Yes."_

_That was all Katherine needed to hear._

"_Bye bye," she said, staking him. "Stupid bastard."_

_She pulled his body and the other one farther into the woods and left them there. She'd get rid of them later. Right now she needed to see Stefan with her own eyes._

_She headed back to the Salvatore house and breathed a sigh of relief when she saw him. She only allowed herself a quick glance to make sure he really was okay. She didn't want him to see her. She wondered if he had though, because he quickly moved to look out the window, the one she'd been standing in front of only seconds before._

Footsteps brought Katherine back to the present. "Stefan?" Katherine called, not even waiting to see who it was. She needed to know right now.

"Yeah, it's me," he answered.

Katherine felt immediate relief and finally allowed herself to sit down.

"What the hell happened to you?" she asked. "Are you okay?"

Stefan looked down at himself, confused. He didn't think he looked hurt, even though he and Damon had pretty much just had an all out brawl with a bunch of werewolves.

"You look fine, but I know something happened," she said. "Are you okay? Tell me."

_She actually sounds really worried about me. _

"I'm okay," he said, passing her a bottle of blood.

"Tell me what happened," she said again, downing most of the contents of the bottle.

"How do you know something happened?" he asked her.

"I just know. I felt it. What the hell did you and your brother get into?"

"We had a huge fight with a bunch of werewolves- a lot of werewolves," he said.

"They didn't get either of you, did they?" she asked.

"Not with a bite no, but we got shot with stakes a couple times," he said.

"Why the hell were you two fighting with werewolves?" she questioned.

"They took Caroline. They were torturing her. They were going to kill her- but really kill her this time, you know unlike you killing her and her turning into a vampire," Stefan said.

_He's never going to really let that one go, is he?_

He gave her the other bottle of blood which she drank just as quickly as the first.

"You sure you're okay?"

"Yes Katherine, I'm fine," he answered.

"So I guess you didn't have any chance to do much today," she said.

Stefan knew what she was talking about. "No not today. The day's pretty much been shot to hell. Tomorrow will be different," he said.

"I suppose you're going to run back and see Elena now," Katherine said, trying to sound bored.

"I'll see you later Katherine," Stefan said tiredly.

"Sweet dreams," she said with a smirk.

o-o-o-o-o-o-o-

Stefan stopped at Elena's house to walk back to his own with her.

"You okay?" she asked him.

"Yeah, I'm fine," he said.

"You sure?" she asked.

"I'm good Elena," he said, kissing her. "All good."

"Okay," she said. "But if there's anything, you know I'm here."

Before Stefan or Elena could say anything more, Elijah appeared out of nowhere.

"_You," _Elena said furiously. "You're supposed to make sure nothing happens to the people I love. You failed _miserably_ today."

"I do apologize, Elena. I was not in town and I had left my phone behind," Elijah said calmly.

"It's okay Elena," Stefan said soothingly, taking her hand. "We're all okay. It all worked out fine."

"Your loved ones will be safe. I keep my word, Elena. This was a one time mishap," Elijah said.

"I really hope so," she said, walking away from him.

"Don't worry about it," Stefan said quietly to Elijah. "She won't stay mad. She's just still really freaked out."

Elijah nodded. "I understand."

Stefan quickly caught up with Elena. "Hey," he said gently. "Look at me."

"I'm fine, Stefan," Elena said, not turning to look at him.

Stefan turned Elena to face him. She was crying. She wiped her eyes.

"Talk to me," he told her.

"You all could have died tonight. Died. Gone forever- you, Bonnie, Caroline and Damon all gone. Do you understand that? You all could have friggin' died!"

"Elena, we're all okay," Stefan said, taking her hand.

"I was so scared Stefan. I was _so _ scared."

Stefan wrapped his arms around her. "We can't just have a normal day in this town huh?" Stefan said, aiming for a laugh from Elena.

Elena did laugh a little. "This town is freakin' cursed," she said.

"I think you might be right."

"Caroline's really okay, right?" Elena asked.

"Yeah. She said she's a little bit sore. Physically she's fine. But I think she's still really freaked out."

"And Bonnie?"

"I think she just needs some rest. She did some really powerful stuff today. I think she's going to be fine and she seems perfectly fine."

"And you and Damon?"

"We're fine," Stefan said.

Elena nodded and wiped her eyes. "I love you so much," she said, before pulling him down to her and kissing him.

"Love you too," he said.

Elena took Stefan's hand as they walked to his house. She was furious with Elijah, absolutely furious. He had failed today, and he had sworn to protect her loved ones. Maybe she couldn't rely on him after all.

Elena wasn't sure why but Katherine had popped into her head. She felt like there was something she should know. Elena felt like she had forgotten something important but she couldn't figure out what. She shook the feeling off and just kept on walking with Stefan.


	10. Chapter 10

o-0-o-0-o-Here's the new chapter. Thanks so much for the reviews. I've been busy with school and I wasn't going to update until the weekend, but like I said, reviews motivate me and make me write quicker. I'm hoping to get the next chapter out a bit sooner than this one. Anyway thanks to everyone who has ever reviewed, but especially to the ones who have reviewed since I continued on from the first chapter. So here's my shout out of special thanks: laugh4life, Marie, Julchen1515, Raya, Daroline1864, Anna-Lisa, Kelly-Starfly, mrgelid, BamonBeremyFan, David Fishwick, and HookedOnTVD. I really look forward to knowing what any of my readers think. Hope you like the chapter. Enjoy! o-0-o-0-o-

"I'm quite tempted to go jump into the bed with the three of them," Damon smirked.

"I don't think that would be a good idea unless you want to get your ass kicked," Stefan said.

"I'm bored. All I did last night was get rid of those nasty werewolf bodies. It's morning and the girls are all still sleeping. I was hoping to annoy them for a bit- start my day off right."

Stefan looked at Damon and just shook his head. "Leave them alone. Let them sleep," he said as he headed out the door. It was Saturday, but the school wasn't closed. Some programs ran on the weekend, including the particular one Stefan was interested in, the environmental club.

It seemed like the best place to start. The environmental club was all about the environment and well, trees were part of the environment. He knew he could go to other higher-up groups in the town but starting at the high-school seemed to be the easiest and most inconspicuous thing. He didn't want anything to appear to be out of the ordinary. He didn't want there to be anything that Elijah could get curious about.

Stefan walked into the school and saw Danny Frank. He didn't particularly like the guy, mostly because he always seemed to be staring at Elena, not that Stefan could really blame the guy for that- Elena was beautiful.

Stefan had never actually spoken to him before but they did have a class together. "Hey," Stefan said, trying to sound friendly. "I hear you're the go-to guy for environment stuff."

"Hey man. Yeah, that's me," Danny answered. "You and Elena still together?" he asked, trying to sound casual.

"Very much so. Totally and completely together," Stefan said, somewhere between wanting to laugh and being annoyed.

"Good for you guys bro," Danny said and Stefan just nodded awkwardly. "Just kinda sucks for me," Danny continued with a laugh.

Stefan raised his eyebrow.

"Oh uh, not like that. Elena's gorgeous and I totally had a thing for her, but I'm not one to pursue someone else's girl. No need to get all boyfriend-y. It's just I totally could have had a threesome, well foursome if Elena was single."

_What the fuck? Is this guy nuts? He doesn't even know me and he's talking like were buddies- and what the hell was that about a foursome?_

"Oh wow. Okay that came out sounding worse than I meant it to. I just mean that Bonnie and Caroline and Elena were at a party a few months back- and don't get mad because I didn't ask for Elena to join because I knew you two were together and I think she already had left with you anyway. Anyway for the past couple years- since before you ever came around there's kind of been this dream list of things that a bunch of guys would like to do, and if you ever actually got to do it, it would be a huge deal, you know? It would totally make the high-school experience."

Stefan did not like where this was going. "You should probably stop talking right about now," Stefan said.

"No, no. Let me explain. Your girl and Bonnie and Caroline have been best friends for as long as anyone can remember. They're pretty much inseparable and they're all hot and, well a couple years ago most of the guys in our grade put a foursome with those three at the top of our dream things to happen to us in high-school list. If anyone ever actually managed to do it, we'd totally have bragging rights... Anyway like I said, I knew Elena was taken so I decided to try for two out of the three. I'd still have major bragging rights if I managed to land Bonnie and Caroline. So I said what the hell, I'd try my luck. We were at a party, everyone was in a good mood, and everyone was a bit tipsy which I thought would help me out. I went over to Bonnie and Caroline and asked them if they'd be up for a threesome."

Stefan's draw almost dropped.

"I thought Bonnie was going to punch me in the face," Danny continued and Stefan smirked. He could totally picture Bonnie doing that.

"She never ended up hitting me though, she was too busy trying to keep Caroline from falling over. Caroline was more than just a little tipsy, but I'll never forget what she said to me."

"What did she say?" Stefan asked.

"She said they'd totally be down for it, but that it wouldn't feel right without Elena since all three of them participated in major milestones together. All because you were and still are with Elena, I can't check that goal off my list."

Stefan couldn't believe this guy. "You _do_ know that Caroline wasn't serious right? You understand that she was blowing you off and making fun of you without actually being outright rude or killing your ego? She and Bonnie probably wouldn't let you touch them with a ten foot pole. Oh and side-note, even if Elena wasn't with me, you'd never get with her," Stefan said, seriously disliking the guy more every second.

"No need to be a jerk, Salvatore," Danny answered.

It probably wasn't the greatest idea to be pissing off the guy who he was going to be asking for help from. Stefan looked around the hall to make sure no one was around. They were alone.

Stefan looked Danny straight in the eye. "You're going to forget this conversation and you're going to forget about your freaky fantasy and keep Elena, Bonnie and Caroline out of your head. And you're going to stay away from them unless they approach you first. Got it?' he said, compelling him.

Stefan never liked the idea of compelling anyone but he already knew coming here today that he was going to be compelling someone because he didn't want any kind of information making its way to Elijah somehow. This guy was disgusting, but Stefan knew that using compulsion on him still wasn't right, but he didn't regret it right now.

"Got it," Danny said.

"It might sound weird, but I'm kind of really getting into the details about Mystic falls, even down to the environment. This is my town, you know? I feel like I should learn more," Stefan said, weaving a little story.

"Nah, that's not weird," Danny said.

"Well I was wondering, is there anything unique to Mystic Falls, maybe like trees or plants or stuff like that?" Stefan asked.

"Oh yeah, definitely," Danny responded.

"Like what?" Stefan asked.

"There's some kind of orange flower that apparently only grows here and I think there's a couple trees, but I can't remember what they're called off the top of my head."

"Is there any way you could find out for me?"

"Don't want to be unhelpful but I can't really help too much with this," Danny said.

"How come?"

"I could find out again but it will take quite awhile because I'd have to talk to the right people and blah blah... I know it sounds stupid but the big guys of the town don't like to give out too much information about that stuff," Danny said with a shrug of his shoulders.

"Why?" Stefan asked.

"We're a small town, you know? We don't have all that much that makes us special or stand out and I guess the trees are something that's strictly the town's, you know? I guess they want to make sure nothing happens to them, I guess they think by having less people know what they're called and where they are is they're idea of keeping it safe."

"I guess that makes sense, even if it kind of sucks," Stefan said. "I guess I should probably start trying to find out with the mayor."

"Yeah, that would be the best place to start probably," Danny answered.

Stefan looked Danny in the eye once again and compelled him. "This conversation did not happen. If anyone ever asks you if you saw me today and if you know why I was here you will tell them that I came by to pick something up for Elena from her locker. Do you understand?"

"I understand," Danny said.

Stefan nodded and headed back out the school's doors. He was off to pay the mayor a visit.

Damon would have been really handy because he was kind of close to Mrs. Lockwood, but Stefan wasn't ready to tell Damon everything yet. He'd need to have a talk with Damon on what he thought about Elijah. If he trusted Elijah's word then Stefan wouldn't risk telling Damon.

Caroline would also be really useful because it was practically guaranteed that if Mrs. Lockwood knew anything, Caroline's mom would too. She was the sheriff and part of the council after all. In fact, she probably knew more than Mrs. Lockwood. But it was the same situation as with Damon. If Caroline bought that Elijah was telling the truth, then Stefan and Bonnie's anti-Elijah mission could be put at risk.

It wasn't because she or Damon would tell Elijah that Stefan and Bonnie didn't believe him, it was just that Stefan was so worried that even the slightest change in behaviour of anyone towards Elijah would ruin everything. And then there was the Katherine issue. And Katherine most definitely was an issue for both Caroline and Damon.

Stefan didn't like keeping things from them at all, but right now it was the lesser of two evils. Until Stefan learned what Damon and Caroline's take on Elijah was after this last incident with the werewolves, he wouldn't mention anything about white-ash wood to either of them.

Stefan took a breath and couldn't help but laugh tiredly. Even if they believed, like he did, that Elijah was bad news, he had no clue how the hell he would tell them that he and Bonnie planned on taking Katherine out of the tomb. Stefan knew for a fact that that was not going to go over well with either Caroline or Damon.

Damon hated her after learning that she was never in the tomb and that she knew where he was for the past century and a half and that she never loved him. The woman had pretty much crushed Damon into pieces. He had been miserable and hurt but now he just hated her and did not trust her at all.

He and Damon were in a better place now than they had been in a long time and he didn't really want to ruin or upset that, but he had the feeling that bringing up getting Katherine out of the tomb would have that effect.

Caroline had every reason to hate Katherine and a big part of Stefan felt absolutely horrible for Caroline at the thought of her having to see Katherine again. Katherine had killed Caroline after all.

Everything was just going to be so much fun.

Stefan shook his head as he walked, trying to think of what he would say to the mayor when he saw her.

o-o-o-o-o-o-o-

"_Damon, would you mind terribly if I asked you something rather personal about your family?" Katherine asked sweetly. "I promise I will never speak a word of it to anyone, and you may tell me to back off if you feel that my question is inappropriate."_

"_You can ask," Damon said._

"_I have only known you for two days but in these two days I've seen some things that make me wonder. Truly, I apologize if the next question makes you uncomfortable."_

"_Go on," Damon said with a small smile._

"_I can see that you and your brother are quite close. I heard him defend you to your father just this morning. Why is your relationship with your father not a close one? Why is there so much anger between you?"_

_Damon remained quiet for a moment._

"_I apologize for making you uncomfortable. You can just ignore my question. I apologize for offending you.__ It was very insensitive of me," Katherine said, beginning to get up._

"_Don't go," Damon said. "You haven't offended me, just caught me a little bit off guard perhaps. Yes, Stefan and I are close. We have been for a very, very long time. I'd say probably since the first few days after he was born. I still remember back then."_

"_Tell me about you and your brother," Katherine smiled encouragingly and he continued on._

"_I was four years old when he was born. For my whole life until that point I had my parent's undivided attention and I loved it, especially from my mother," Damon said._

"_A little brother changed that slightly, I'd imagine," Katherine said._

"_I wasn't the happiest child around for the first few days that Stefan was around. My father had always been busy but when he wasn't working he and I could spend time with each other. With Stefan around, after work he'd spend quite a bit of time with him."_

"_Did he not spend any time with you at all?" Katherine asked._

"_He did come to spend some time with me also, but it was less than before because he had to split the already limited time he had. So that made me angry for the first few days. My mother was much better at spending time with me even though I would say she was far busier than my father. I would say that the only time I was really not with my mother while Stefan was, was while she was feeding him. There was always so much to do. She made sure that I knew she loved me very much, yet somehow the smallest loss of time with her made me more angry than it had with my father."_

"_I think that makes sense. They say that children are very closely tied to their mothers more so than their fathers," Katherine said._

"_I think it was on the fourth day when I just felt like I had to tell my mother that I was angry," Damon said with a bit of a laugh._

_Katherine chuckled._

"_It was just as my mother sat down with me to eat lunch. She took one look at me and knew that I was not happy. She asked me what was wrong and I told her that I did not like having a little brother. I thought she might get angry at me, but she didn't."_

"_What did she say?" Katherine asked._

"_She asked me why I didn't like having a little brother and I told her that I didn't like that he got so much attention. I told her that I was afraid that one day she and my father would have no time for me at all, that she would stop loving me. She got up and picked me up off of my chair and sat me down in her lap. She told me that they would always have time for me and that she would never stop loving me, not even if the world came to an end. She told me not to be angry with Stefan because it wasn't his fault that he needed to spend so much time with them. She said that all kids need their parents, but babies need them even more because they couldn't do anything for themselves yet. You had to really take care of a baby. She said that she would probably need my help and asked what I thought about that. I liked the idea of helping her so I told her that I thought that would be fine. She told me that I should love my brother and be kind to him because he would look up to me when he got older. I asked her how she could possibly know that."_

"_And what was her answer?" Katherine questioned._

"_She told me that she was what Stefan was- a younger sibling. She told me about her older sister and how she admired and loved her very much- how her sister had defended her when other girls had been mean. She said that her sister had been her hero. She told me that she wanted me to promise her that I would always look out for my brother," Damon said._

"_I bet you loved the idea of being a hero," Katherine said with a grin._

"_I did. And after that day I stopped hating my little brother and started spending a lot of time with him. I started to get very close to him and we became friends when he was old enough to actually be able to play with... You were wondering why my father and I do not have a very good relationship- well the answer is because he blames me still, after more than a decade, for my mother's death."_

"_That's horrible. I'm sorry," Katherine said._

"_It hurts that he blames me, but he's not wrong. It is my fault, but it was also his fault too... It was winter time and the lake was frozen over for the most part. A lot of the kids wanted to slip and slide across it but all of our parents warned us to stay away from it because the ice could crack and we could fall in. My mother was making lunch and father was outside watching us. One of the neighbours came over and they started to talk and then father decided that he would go over to the neighbour's house for a few moments. He left and I decided that I wanted to be daring and head out on the ice. I told Stefan to come along, and long story short- the ice cracked where Stefan stood and he fell into the freezing lake. I couldn't see him at all. I ran as fast as I could in the house and screamed for my mother. She came running out, cursing at my father's absence. She jumped into the freezing lake and I yelled at the top of my lungs for my father because I didn't want to leave my spot in case my mother needed my help. I yelled and yelled and got very scared because she and Stefan still had not come up. My father finally came and I thought that he might have a heart attack. Just as he got there my mother's hand shot up. I put out my hands to help her and she gave Stefan to me as my father helped her out of the lake."_

"_That was quite an ordeal," Katherine said._

"_My mother never had much of a temper. I hardly ever saw her angry, and never heard her utter a word of violence, but she was livid. She was so furious with my father for having left with the neighbour instead of watching us while she made lunch. My father started to yell at me as mother gathered Stefan in her arms. She held Stefan with one arm and she held my hand with her free hand. She yelled at my father and told him to shut his mouth. She said that he was the parent and that I was just a child- that it was his responsibility to watch us and make sure we didn't do anything we were not supposed to. Father was shocked and I was too, we'd never heard her so angry. He had started in on me again and once again she yelled at him to shut up because this was all his fault. She warned him to stop speaking or else she would never forgive him."_

"_It may have shocked you to see her so angry, but a child is the most precious thing in the world to a mother, I would imagine. If something bad happens it's not out of the ordinary for there to be some rage," Katherine said._

"_Father told her to let him hold Stefan for her but she ignored him and kept whispering things to Stefan as we ran to the house. She kept telling him to open his eyes for her. Stefan hadn't said a single word at all. Mother was panicking. She was so scared for Stefan. He'd been in that freezing water for awhile and he was so young. Father tried to clear the anger and tension by telling her that it would all be okay, that Stefan would be fine but this angered her more and she had actually started to cry, which was something else I had never seen. She told him that if Stefan was not okay, that if he didn't make it- that if she lost her son she would kill him. When we got into the house I asked her if she needed me to do anything to help but she said no so I told her that I would go get my aunt and grandmother and maybe they could help. I ran back outside and headed for my grandmother's house. It was not far from ours, but running wasn't so easy then because of all the snow. When I got back home with my grandmother and aunt, father was pacing back and forth with his head in his hands. He didn't know what to do. He was pretty much useless. My aunt told him to come with her to stay with Stefan while my grandmother literally pulled my mother away from Stefan's bed. She told my mother that there was nothing else she could do for Stefan at the moment but that she now had to let her mother take care of her. My mother was shaking like a leaf. She was shivering from head to toe but she had completely ignored her own body, only focusing on Stefan. My grandmother finally got her to lie die down and change into warm, dry clothing. She had tucked her into bed, trying to give her as much warmth as possible. She asked me to come sit by her and I did. She held my hand and kept telling me that nothing was my fault. She said father was sometimes careless and then she asked me to make her a promise. She made me promise to watch out for my brother- to take care of him and protect him...To make the long story shorter, eventually Stefan woke up, obviously. Mother had taken care of him properly quick enough for him to recover, but my mother eventually died from pneumonia. And since that day my father has had much anger towards me."_

"_I'm sorry to hear all this, truly," Katherine said. "I hope I've not upset you by making you recount it all. My curiosity has clearly caused you pain. I apologize."_

"_There's no need for you to apologize," he told her, not wanting her to feel guilty. "I will ask one thing of you, though."_

"_Of course."_

"_Please do not repeat what I have told you to anyone. I have never spoken this story to anyone."_

"_I promise that this will remain between you and I," Katherine assured him._

This was the type of crap that happened when Damon was bored and had nothing to do. If he wasn't doing something there was nothing to keep his mind from wandering. It was never good. He would either wind up killing someone or thinking about the past or somehow, Elena and a bunch of the bad things he'd done.

One person he tried very hard to keep out of his head was his mother, but today he had no luck with that at all. He hated thinking about her for several reasons- one being that he couldn't help but feel something every time he did, another was that every time he thought of her he thought of how disappointed she would be with him. Yes, he really did think about that, though he would _never_, ever tell anyone that.

He had made her a promise and he hadn't really kept it as he knew she would have wanted.

Damon was so happy when he heard footsteps on the stairs. "Sleepyheads are up. Good morning ladies," he said.

The girls just yawned.

"Oh wake up. I'm bored. Entertain me."

Elena mumbled. "Maybe after some coffee."

"Yes, totally. Coffee, I want coffee," Caroline said.

"Me too, let's go make some," Bonnie said, following Elena and Caroline into the kitchen.

"Don't bother," Stefan called out, walking into the house. "I just bought some for you guys."

All three girls shuffled back into the living room and Stefan and Damon both laughed at how tired they all still were. He handed a cup to Bonnie. "Thanks Stefan. You rock," Bonnie said, covering a yawn.

"What Bonnie said," was Caroline's response.

"Thank you. Good morning, you totally do rock. I love you more than usual right now," she said giving him a quick kiss.

"Where _did _ you end up going?" Damon asked, remembering that Stefan had left.

"Took a long walk and got coffee. Oh, I learned some interesting stuff this morning," Stefan said, trying to keep a straight face turning to Bonnie, Caroline and Elena.

"Oooh, like what?" Caroline asked.

"It involves the three of you and most of the guys in our year," Stefan said.

"Huh?" all three said at the same time.

"Did you know that having a foursome with you three is apparently at the top of a bunch of the guys' to-do or 'wish could happen' lists," Stefan said and Damon snorted.

"Oh really?" Elena asked. "And how did you happen to learn that lovely little piece of information. And when the hell did this start?"

"Get that smirk off your face, Damon," Caroline said, seeing Damon grinning in amusement.

"How about you three walk back upstairs and hop back in my bed, let me join you for a moment and let me grab a camera real quick," Damon said, smirking.

"Yeah- how about no?" Bonnie said, giving him a dirty look.

Damon just grinned some more.

"Apparently this started a couple years ago. Danny Frank told me," Stefan said, laughing a bit.

"I _told _you!" Bonnie said, elbowing Caroline and Elena. "You kept saying I was crazy and drunk. But didn't I tell you that he was creeping around? Yes I did."

"Okay someone needs to give me some more details because this is amusing me very much right now," Damon said.

"I think it was like 3 months ago. There was some stupid party or something. Stefan and Elena had come and only stayed a bit. Me and Care were still perfectly sober when they had gone. We were bored but we didn't want to go home yet so we grabbed a couple beers. Care got _smashed _and I got a little drunk, but I stopped drinking cuz she couldn't even see in front of her own feet and I practically had to hold her up. That creep comes up to us and says something like 'Looks like the trio's down a member tonight, how about you two let me in and I'll make you feel all kinds of right. Uggh what a douche."

Damon was laughing his head off.

"Environment club Danny? Handsy Danny?" Elena asked.

"Yes. Him."

"Danny who tried to feel you up in eighth grade Danny? Danny who tried to grab your ass last week and cover by saying you had a sticker on your pants? Danny who then mysteriously somehow walked into the clearly closed door?" Caroline said.

"Yes, _that_ freak. And he's lucky all I did was make him bang his head on the door. ..Now that I know I'm not nuts it was _so _ disgusting at that party. He was like 'I know Elena's got a boyfriend but do you think she'd be down to join us. I've dreamt about the four of us.' I was going to punch him in the face but then you were stumbling again, so I had to settle for giving him a 'hell no' instead," She said, poking Caroline.

"Oh God, I think I remember," Caroline groaned. "Did he say something like, 'well that doesn't mean us three can't have some three-way fun?' "

"Yep," Bonnie said as Elena stared at her two best friends.

Caroline put her hand to her mouth to cover a burst of laughter.

"Do you remember what you said to him now?" Bonnie asked.

Caroline nodded her head. "I said we'd totally be down for it, but that it wouldn't feel right without you since all three of us participated in major milestones together," she said laughing, pointing at Elena.

Elena spit out her coffee and burst out laughing too.

"How the hell did that topic get brought up anyway?" Bonnie asked Stefan.

"It was one of the most awkward few minutes of my life _ever_," Stefan said. "I really wanted to throw him across the hallway."

"You didn't though, right?" Elena asked quickly. "You do not need to be getting in trouble cuz some creepy guy is an idiot."

"You should be very proud of me," Stefan said. "I didn't touch him."

"But?" Caroline said.

"But what?" Stefan asked, pretending to sound offended.

"We know there's a but," Bonnie said laughing.

"Well let's just say that none of you will be on his mind anymore and that he'll be keeping his distance."

"Baby bro using compulsion- I'm so proud," Damon said dramatically.

Caroline just laughed while Bonnie and Elena rolled their eyes.

Caroline's phone rang. Yes, she still had it. The idiots who took her had thrown it into the cage with her. "Hi mom," she answered. "Me, Bonnie and Elena slumbered it last night... Excuse me, did you just say that Tyler called for me?" Caroline asked, her voice rising. "Nothing's the matter mom. Sorry. Do you know what number he called from? What did he say? Sorry, huh? ...Okay. I've gotta go. I'll see you later."

Caroline ended the call with her mother and began dialling another number. She didn't say a word to Stefan, Elena, Bonnie or Damon. She just walked into the other room.

"This isn't good," Elena said to Bonnie.

"Do you understand what they did to me?" they heard Caroline say. "Did my screams of agony not clue you into that they were torturing me? How could you just let them do that to me? You didn't do anything to stop them. Sorry doesn't cut it Tyler. You were supposed to be my friend. We could have possibly been more than that, but it's all gone now. We are done. Don't call me anymore... Stop saying you're sorry. It doesn't mean anything," She yelled.

"What should you have done? You should have helped your friend, you stupid coward. Stefan helped. Damon helped. Bonnie ran through the freakin' woods not knowing where I was or what she'd be coming up against to come help me... Oh how sweet, you're asking if she's okay. Hey B, Tyler wants to know if you're all good now. He saw you pass out yesterday," Caroline said loudly.

"Care, just hang up babe. He's not worth making yourself freak out over," Bonnie said.

Elena took the phone out of Caroline's hands and passed it to Bonnie. Elena took Caroline Caroline's hand and pulled her out of the room.

"Look at me Care," Elena said gently.

"I'm fine," Caroline mumbled.

"No you're not C. Look at me."

Caroline finally looked at Elena, tears falling from her eyes. Elena wiped away her friend's tears.

"It's okay to be messed up about this. It's okay if you need to cry. You're allowed to be mad. You're allowed to still feel scared remembering what happened. You went through hell. But don't let _him_ get to you right now. Don't let him make you freak out," she said.

Caroline took some deep breaths and finally nodded.

"You better keep your distance Tyler," Bonnie warned. "She's done talking to you. If she somehow ever does forgive you, she'll find a way to get in contact with you. You need to leave her alone. No, I don't understand where you're coming from. You were supposed to be her friend. They were hurting her and you should have helped, but you were too much of a wuss. I'm serious, you have to leave her alone. She's got your cell phone number if she ever wants to talk to you again. You have to just let her be. Stop saying you were scared- what about her, huh? You were scared and confused, what about Care who was being tortured? You don't think _she _was scared? You don't think she was confused as hell when she saw you standing around and not helping her as that bastard put her through hell?" Bonnie hissed.

"Who the hell is this?" Bonnie asked as someone grabbed the phone from Tyler. "You're seriously threatening me right now? Stupid bitch, if you know what's good for you, you'll stay far away from Mystic Falls. Yeah, I'm the witch so believe me when I tell you that if you come back here and come around Caroline or any of us again what I did to you yesterday when you felt the blood vessels popping in your brain will feel like you were getting your temples massaged in comparison."

Damon grinned listening to the pissed off and riled up Bonnie.

"Do you actually think you scare me?" Bonnie laughed. "Go ahead, threaten us some more, Jules."

As soon as Damon heard Bonnie say Jules he flipped out. "Give me the phone," he told Bonnie.

"You step foot in this town again and you are dead. It's not a threat. It's a promise- a guarantee. Payback's gonna be a bitch, just like you," Damon yelled, hanging up the phone.

"Does someone want to tell me what the hell is going on here?"

Everyone turned around. No one had noticed him come in, but there Jeremy was standing by the door.

"Oh yay," Damon said sarcastically. "The littlest Gilbert's here."

o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-

_I can't believe that I had been stupid enough to think that Klaus and Elijah really wanted to help me back when I was human. They were like every other guy- after my body, but this time they wanted my blood too. I cannot wait to spill their blood. No more running. By the time I get started with them they're going to wish that they could run away from me._

Katherine threw at rock at the cave wall. She sat there vengeful, bitchy and bored. She couldn't wait until she got out of this hell-hole.

o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-

Damon frankly didn't want to hear a run-down of last night's events yet again so he'd left the room and went to his own. He plopped himself down on his bed and thought about the various ways that he could kill the female werewolf. He actually hoped she came back. He wanted her to come back. He'd like to have some fun and make her suffer like Rose and Caroline did.

Damon heard Jeremy ask Bonnie and Caroline for the third time if they were really okay since Stefan explained everything that had happened the night before.

Damon laughed to himself wondering how long it would take Elena to clue in that her brother had major feelings for Bonnie.

He closed his eyes, actually considering getting some sleep until he felt something vibrate beside him. It was Bonnie's phone. He got up to go bring her the phone. He was going to have a tiny bit of fun. He just wanted to see what Jeremy's face would look like.

"Bon-Bon," Damon said coming down the stairs. "You forgot your phone in my bed."

Jeremy's jaw dropped and it took just about everything in Damon to keep from laughing.

Bonnie sent a glare Damon's way.

"I think it's your boyfriend," Damon said, having far too much fun watching Jeremy's reactions.

Bonnie grabbed her phone from him. "Yeah, my boyfriend named Melissa," she said sarcastically before picking up the phone.

"Hey Melissa. No of course I didn't forget," Bonnie said, in a voice that said she totally did forget whatever she was talking to the girl about. "Did you not get my text? I sent it about an hour and a half ago telling you I'd be about 45 minutes late. Oh no, don't worry about it. Sometimes these cell phones really suck. Okay, I'll see you in half an hour," Bonnie said, hanging up.

"I've got to run. I totally forgot I was supposed to meet with her. I've got to run home quick. I'll see you later guys. Care, I totally wasn't kidding before. I'm going to buy a piñata and we're going to stick a picture of Tyler's face on it and have a grand old time," Bonnie said, rushing out the door.

"I've got something to do too," Jeremy said. "I better head out too."

Caroline, Damon and Stefan couldn't help but grin. Elena saw everyone's face. "Okay, I didn't want to say anything for the past week in case I was completely wrong, but judging by the looks on your faces I'm not. Jeremy's totally into Bonnie, isn't he?"

All three vampires just shrugged and Elena rolled her eyes at them.

o-o-o-o-o-o-

"Bonnie, wait up," Jeremy called out.

Part of her wanted to pretend that she didn't hear him and just keep walking, but she stopped so he could catch up.

"I'm really sorry for how I acted yesterday. I was stupid and I made a big scene and I made you uncomfortable and I deserved that smack in the face. I'm not sorry for the way I feel about you, but I'm sorry that I seem to be going about things all wrong. I thought you felt something for me too, but as much as I hate to admit it, maybe this really is just me. Maybe it is one-sided. I want you to feel the same way that I do, but if you don't I don't want you to always feel awkward around me. If you like me back and you're worried about Elena, I can respect that, but if that's why you're holding back I can promise you that she won't be mad at you. Or if it's just that you're freaked out cuz I'm younger- I'll say it again, I'm not a kid anymore and if you're counting down to the days and weeks, you're not even a year older than me... Okay, I know you're busy, so I'm gonna go now and let you do your thing. I just needed to get all that out," Jeremy said before heading off in the opposite direction.

Bonnie wanted to tell him that she didn't feel anything. That it was all one-sided on his part. It would certainly put an end to all this drama, but she couldn't bring herself to do it. No matter how angry he made her yesterday, what he said was true. She had feelings for him too. She knew that she'd have to talk to him sooner or later about everything but she just couldn't think about that right now. There was so much other stuff on her mind.

She couldn't wait to get this review session over with Melissa so she could talk to Stefan and ask him if he found anything out this morning. She had figured he was trying to get some information on the white-ash wood stuff when he avoided answering where he was specifically earlier on. She also needed to start practicing some more spells to build up her strength and she needed to figure out exactly when she should get Lucy to come around so that they could get Katherine out of the tomb.

One thing was for sure. There was no time to be bored.

o-o-o-o-o-o-o-

"I know I want Jules dead," Caroline said, gulping down the contents of the blood bag. "And I know that my friendship with Tyler's gone and that I don't forgive him and that I'm never going to forgive him. And I know that I want to kick his ass and that I never want to see him again, but if I ever _did_ see him again, I couldn't kill him. Even right now I don't want him to die," Caroline sighed. "He's just a stupid, cowardly little shit. I know he didn't want them to hurt me."

"You trying to make a point Barbie?" Damon asked.

"Yes, actually. I am."

"And what would that be?" he asked.

"If they show up here ever again, go ahead and kill Jules. I want that bitch dead. But-"

"But don't kill Lockwood?" Damon said, finishing her sentence.

She nodded.

Damon just rolled his eyes.

o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o

"What are you in the mood for?" Stefan asked Elena as they stared at a bunch of different shops.

"A bit of everything," Elena said, laughing.

"Well then, let's go get you a bit of everything for a late breakfast/early lunch so we can actually eat in the park before it starts snowing again," Stefan told her.

"We're gonna do my winter picnic idea?" Elena asked, clapping her hands together.

"Yeah," Stefan answered, laughing.

"Did you know that I _totally _love you," Elena said happily, kissing him.

"No, I was completely unaware of that," he said and Elena elbowed him.

"I thought you said a winter picnic was crazy," Elena said.

"Yes I did say that. And I _still_ think that," he chuckled.

"So then why are you agreeing to one now?"

"Because that's what you want. Because I love you. Because I love making you happy," Stefan said simply.

"I'm a lucky girl," Elena said, taking hold of his hand and smiling

o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-

"What the hell did you do Dad?" Luka yelled at his father.

"I made sure that there was no way anything could go wrong. I just did another thing that will help us get your sister back," Jonas said, wiping the blood off of his hands.

"Tell me that you didn't go after that other Bennett, dad. Tell me that's not blood on your hands," Luka said. "You're crazy, did you know that? You went after a woman who's not even in this town because she could potentially be an ally to Bonnie."

"Bonnie doesn't trust us, Luka. It's not so crazy to think that she'd go find another witch and try to work against us. I had to make sure that couldn't happen. Especially if that witch was another Bennett."

"What did you do?" Luka demanded.

"That woman was a strong witch, very strong I tell you. I had to get her drunk to get the upper hand on her," Jonas said.

"Dammit dad, tell me what the hell you did!"

"I killed Lucy Bennett," Jonas replied.


	11. Chapter 11

o-0-o-0-o Here's the new chapter! Thanks for the reviews. I really appreciate them. Oh, and someone asked me if I minded long reviews. I do not mind long reviews at all lol. Reviews make me happy period. I love hearing what people are enjoying. I hope you enjoy this chapter. Leave me a review and let me know what you think it always motivates me to write faster o-0-o-0-o

Bonnie had picked up and put her phone down about ten times in a row in the last five minutes. She was trying to build up the courage and call Elena. She was going to talk to Jeremy later but she couldn't put off talking to Elena anymore because if Bonnie was going to allow anything to happen with Jeremy she wanted Elena to be okay with everything.

She picked up the phone again and finally let it ring. She didn't hang up. "Hey Elena. I have something I need to talk to you about. Are you still at Stefan's? I know she doesn't want to go home yet. Yeah, I'll come meet you there cuz I don't think Caroline should be alone right now either. Okay, I'll see you in a bit."

Bonnie hung up the phone and took a deep breath. She had no clue what was going to happen with Jeremy. She wasn't even quite sure what she would say to him. Right now, he was the least of her worries. She was far more concerned with how Elena was going to take everything.

She headed over to the Salvatore house and hoped that the conversation with Elena would go well.

When Bonnie walked into the house she noticed that Stefan and Damon were now there too.

"Oh, everyone's here," Bonnie said, biting her lip.

"You sound displeased," Damon said with a grin. "You do remember that me and Stefan live here, right?"

"Uggh. Yes I know. I just kind of need to talk to Elena alone."

"B, I do not like this secrecy stuff. You're making me feel left out," Caroline pouted.

"Oh don't start," Bonnie sighed.

"We can get out of here. Don't worry about it. Care's got some company now," Elena said to Bonnie.

"You know what. Never mind. Let's just forget it," Bonnie said, chickening out.

"Bonnie, come on, tell me what's up," Elena said.

"Jeremy likes me- like _a lot_ and I might like him back," Bonnie blurted out. "And I just wanted to know what you thought about that," she added pathetically.

Damon smirked and Caroline hit him upside the head. Stefan watched Caroline and Damon and Elena and Bonnie, trying not to laugh.

"You _might _like him back?" Elena asked.

"I'll elaborate on that after you tell me what you think. My mouth is staying shut til you tell me how you feel about this," Bonnie said.

Damon watched, very amused.

"I'd say that I'm really happy Jeremy set his eyes on someone who's actually 100% sane this time... I'd say that it's a little weird since he's my brother and you're my BFF, but it's not that weird because it kind of makes sense. You're hot and he's hot, but not to me cuz he's my brother. You're both single. You've been working together a lot more lately. You've been spending a lot of time together. You're a gem and he can be really sweet... I've never thought that the girls he's been with were good enough for him, and I've never thought the guys you've been with were good enough for you. You guys could be good for each other and for once I actually wouldn't be worried about Jeremy cuz I know you'd be good to him. And I wouldn't worry about you either because he'd be good to you... Are you asking me for my approval?"

"Yes I am. If anything were to ever happen, would you be okay with it? If this is too weird for you I need you to tell me and nothing will happen between me and him, and this whole topic will be closed. I wouldn't risk my friendship with you," Bonnie said.

"If you want to be with him, then go ahead. You've got my blessing or approval or whatever the hell you want to call it," Elena said.

"Yeah?" Bonnie asked uneasily.

"Yeah," Elena smiled, laughing a bit. "Were you actually worried that this would ruin us?"

"Yes and no. I just didn't want anything to be weird. I'd never risk us for a guy, even a great one like your brother."

"Yay. This is so awesome," Caroline said, clapping her hands. "Jeremy won't be so mopey anymore. We need a group hug, ladies."

Both Elena and Bonnie laughed as their blonde friend descended on them and grabbed them both in a bone-crushing hug.

"And people say I never do anything good," Damon commented.

"What's that supposed to mean?" Elena asked.

"I said that annoying as your brother is he'd probably be good to her. See, I'm practically the match-maker," Damon said, grinning.

Bonnie just rolled her eyes.

"You always manage to make everything about you somehow," Caroline mumbled.

"I can _hear _you Blondie," Damon said.

"You talked to Damon about this? I knew these three knew," Elena said to Bonnie.

"They figured stuff out on their own from the way Jeremy was acting," Bonnie said.

"Like his little freak-out yesterday," Elena said.

Bonnie just shrugged.

"Oh yeah, Bonnie, I forgot to ask you. Did you want to go over that stuff for class today or tomorrow?" Stefan asked.

"What stuff for class? Please tell me I didn't forget to do something," Caroline said.

"It's just an extra credit thing I'm doing. I want to boost my mark a bit and Stefan offered to help," Bonnie said easily, making up a quick story.

She knew what he meant. He was talking about going over the white-ash wood and magic stuff.

"Oh good. I'm so not in the mood to do anything school related," Caroline said, relieved.

"Same here," Elena said.

"Hope you didn't have any plans with him for tonight because I'm borrowing your boyfriend for a bit," Bonnie said.

"I suppose I can let him go for a bit but only cuz it's you B," Elena grinned.

"Thanks. Come on Stefan, let's get out of here. Time to share your brain with me. Care, call me if you need anything or to blab or whatever, okay?" Bonnie said.

"You're still worried about me, huh?" Caroline said. "I'm okay. I promise."

Bonnie nodded. "Still," she said.

"Thanks," Caroline said, smiling.

"What, I don't get a goodbye or anything?" Damon said.

"I was getting to you," Bonnie said. "Don't be a baby."

Elena just laughed.

"Bye Damon. Don't drive Elena and Caroline crazy," Bonnie said, walking out the door, Stefan following behind.

"Okay let's go to my place to talk about the big stuff," Bonnie said.

"Yeah, I don't really want to talk about anything out here either," Stefan said. "I've got to say though, I wish you could have seen the look on your face when you were talking to Elena about the Jeremy stuff," Stefan teased.

"I thought _Damon_ was supposed to be the jackass brother," Bonnie said with a smirk, elbowing Stefan in the ribs.

Stefan just laughed as they walked to Bonnie's house.

o-o-o-o-o-o-o-

_Breathe. Just breathe. That's a person. That's a person. Do not be a monster. People, these are people. You cannot hurt human beings. Control yourself. People are not food. You did a bad thing an hour ago, but it's done and over with. You can't go back. You can't give that woman her life back. It was horrible, but it's over and you will not do that again. You just awoke as a vampire, the thirst for blood was overwhelming. You can be good. You just wronged Rose and Trevor and it was bad, but you had to look out for yourself... But your head is clearer now. You can do better. You will not hurt innocent people. Maybe you can even try to survive from the blood of animals. Just breathe. Control this bloodlust. Remember who you are. Control it today and it will get easier. Control it and remember who you are. Remember _her _Remember that you will find her and that you will love her and take care of her. Remember that and this will all be easier. Remember your baby and remember Mama and you will _not _be a monster. You can be good Katerina, you can be good, even like this. You have love in your heart. _

Katherine laughed as she stared at the walls of the tomb. She remembered back to the time that she kept thinking those things. It had nearly been 520 years since she frantically told herself those things ,yet she could still remember it all as if it was yesterday.

If you were to look at her now, to know her now, you probably would not be able to associate the girl who told herself all of that with the woman she was now. But there was a time when she was good. She wasn't good anymore, but everything was easier this way. Being bad was easier.

Klaus and Elijah were the reasons that she was the way she was now. Being bad was easier than being good after everything that had happened. She didn't know if she really knew how to be good anymore. There were moments, though, moments with Stefan when she would want to be good again, when she could remember how to do a good thing, remember that you could feel pleasure just by making someone smile or laugh.

Elijah and Klaus ruined her life and even though she didn't think she could or would ever really want to do "good Katherine" all the time, not after all these years, the hate she had for those two men for what she became- that hate would never be gone. That hate would never lessen, not even after they were finally dead and gone.

o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o

"You killed Lucy Bennett?" Luka asked, repeating his father's words. "Oh my God."

"I couldn't take the chance that Bonnie would try to work against us with another witch. Now, we don't have to worry about that at all. With Bonnie not able to be a threat, we're getting closer to getting your sister back. Nothing else matters," Jonas said.

"Apparently not to you. Apparently it's okay to kill someone perfectly innocent, who has nothing at all to do with the sacrifice. I feel bad enough about the fact that Elena's gonna have to be sacrificed, but we need that to happen to get Greta back. But Lucy Bennett- that was just wrong dad. I want this all to be over with as soon as possible because I can't keep going on like this. I'm sick of all this hate and anger," Luka said before walking away from his father.

o-o-o-o-o-o-o

Elena sat on the couch trying to remember something. She couldn't tell you what she was trying to remember, but she knew that something important was there. It was like the thought made the quickest of stops and then just ran off again, as if it was never there. She doesn't know for sure but she's thinking that she's trying to recall a conversation.

Elena sits there and just gets more frustrated with every moment that passes that she cannot remember what she wants to remember. She has a flash of Katherine, but she just shrugs that off, very annoyed. Seeing Katherine was one of the very last things she remembered. Stefan comforting her over what she had learned about being the Petrova doppelganger on her porch after that was pretty much the last thing that she remembered before her mind is a complete blank for two days.

She doesn't talk about it much, but the fact that two days of her life are still gone and she no recollection of them eats away at her. She feels like she learned something in those two days something important and all she would get was a flash of Katherine here and there. A useless flash because she remembered Katherine telling her her story that night. She remembered Katherine telling her about how her baby was taken away, how she was banished and all that.

Why couldn't she remember anything important?

That was not the only thing that was bothering Elena. She still had Elijah on her mind. She still had her doubts about him after he failed to come through for Stefan, Bonnie, Caroline and Damon. She still didn't know if she could trust him anymore.

Elena smiled when Caroline and Damon came back into the room. She knew how she could find out if she could really trust Elijah or not.

"Damon," she said sweetly.

"Uh-oh," Damon said instantly and Caroline couldn't help but laugh.

"Will you help me with something? Please?"

"I have a feeling already that I'm going to regret this," Damon said out loud.

She didn't even need to say please. He'd pretty much do anything for this girl. He wondered if he would regret it later. Probably not. If it made her happy and it didn't kill her he'd probably be grinning like an idiot on the inside after doing whatever it was that she needed his help with.

o-o-o-o-o-o-o-

"Okay, so tell me what you were doing this morning, even though I'm pretty sure I know what you were doing, "Bonnie said, closing her front door as Stefan entered her house.

"I went to the school to see if I could get any information on white-ash wood from the environment club guy, a.k.a Danny the Pervert."

"And what did you find out?" Bonnie asked.

"I asked him if there was anything unique to Mystic Falls, maybe like trees or plants or stuff like that. He told me that there was some kind of flower and that we had two types of trees that you could only find here. He couldn't remember what they were called and didn't know where you could find them. I asked if he could find anything out for me but he said he wouldn't really be able to because he'd have to go through a lot to get the information."

Bonnie raised her eyebrow. "He'd have to go through a lot to get you the name and location of some trees?"

"Yep, because you need to talk to the right people for that information, the big guys in town," Stefan said.

A smile was forming on Bonnie's face.

"I guess what he got told was that we don't have all that much that makes us special in Mystic Falls or stand out. The trees, they say are something that's strictly the town's. They want to make sure nothing happens to them, Having less people know what they're called and where they are is they're idea of keeping our little Mystic Falls treasures safe," Stefan said.

"Which is all code speak for that the Council knows about the White Ash trees and how useful they are," Bonnie said, rubbing her hands together. "Okay, continue, I know there's more."

Stefan smiled and continued on. "After talking with him I headed over to see the mayor to see what I could get out of her."

"And did you get anything out of her?"

"I did and it was pretty lucky that I did. I got there and realized that if I had no way to compel her that I couldn't ask her anything important, I made up an excuse saying that Damon had me come by to bring her some vervain and I told her I knew all about the Council and blah blah blah."

"Did you actually have any vervain with you?" Bonnie asked.

"Nope," Stefan said, shaking his head. "But saying that I did worked wonders for me."

"She started to talk?"

"Yep," Stefan replied. "She was like 'Oh thank goodness you brought some. I have none left. I'm not even wearing any because I gave the last of it to Tyler the other day.' If she thinks you're in on the secret- that woman will tell you just about anything you want to know, even if you have the crappiest excuse for asking about the information in the first place."

"What BS line did you feed her?" Bonnie asked, already grinning.

"I told her Damon's birthday was coming up soon. She's totally got some kind of crush on my brother. Anyway I told her Damon's birthday was coming up and that he had mentioned wanting to actually get to see the mystery flower and the trees that he's only ever heard about."

Bonnie couldn't help but laugh. And when she started she couldn't stop for a minute. Before long, Bonnie was clutching at her side because she couldn't get the image of Damon all smiley and bending down to smell a flower out of her head.

After Bonnie got control of herself she asked, "So did she tell you where we can find the stuff we so desperately want?"

"Yes she did. I know where it is. She told me and then I compelled her to forget the conversation."

"Oh this is _so _good. We need to get to that stuff as soon as possible," Bonnie said.

"I know, but we've got to stay under the radar. I don't want anything to seem out of the ordinary at all. I'm pretty sure that Elijah keeps track of the things we do to an extent."

"That's true," Bonnie said. "We've got to plan how we can get to that tree and take what we need without anyone noticing. And I think I can help with that. I think it's time I call Lucy and tell her to come back to town. Between me and her I think we could get a bunch of the stuff without anyone ever knowing we were even there," Bonnie said with a grin.

"We make a good team Bonnie," Stefan said.

"I know, right," Bonnie said happily. "This might not all actually end in a disaster. We could _win_."

"That's definitely the plan," Stefan said.

"Question though," Bonnie said. "Are we going to tell anyone else, or are we still keeping this strictly Bonnie and Stefan territory?"

"I need to talk to Caroline and Damon and see what their opinion on Elijah is. If their wary of him, I say we tell them what's up. I don't want to tell anyone else though- no Jeremy, no Elena, no Alaric for now either."

"I think that's a good idea," Bonnie replied. "Okay, well I'm going to give Lucy a call and we'll see where everything goes from there, I guess."

"Sounds good to me," Stefan said. "And now I'll get out of your hair so you can go find Jeremy," he said with a grin.

Bonnie rolled her eyes but couldn't help but laugh. "Bye Stefan. Go away."

"Bye Bonnie, have a good night."

"You too," she said, as Stefan headed out the door.

Bonnie dialled Lucy's number and got her voicemail. "Hey Lucy, it's Bonnie. I think it's time you come give me some company. Give me a call when you get this. Take care."

Bonnie hung up the phone and decided to go find Jeremy. She had a lot she wanted to say to him.

o-o-o-o-o-o

"No offense, but this sounds so stupid E," Caroline said.

"Your friend said it first, not me," Damon chimed in.

"Come on. I need to know if I can still trust this guy. How else am I going to find out, short of us actually getting attacked for real and seeing if he comes along to help?" Elena retorted.

"That's true," Caroline admitted.

"Okay Elena. Your wish- my command," Damon said dramatically. "Though it'll probably be more convincing if I attack Barbie than for Barbie to attack me. Oh don't give me those eyes Blondie- you're all tough now, I'll give you that but you know realistically in a you vs. me contest I'm gonna kick your ass. It's not going to be realistic if newborn baby vamp is throwing me all over the place."

"That's also true too," Caroline mumbled.

"You're not throwing Caroline around even if it is just pretend thank you _very_ much," Elena said to Damon.

Caroline smiled a bit. "Elena. It's okay. I'm not so breakable anymore."

Elena bit her lip.

"Okay ladies, off you go on your evening stroll. I'll follow soon," Damon said, practically pushing them out the door.

o-o-o-o-o-o

"Hey Jer," Bonnie said as he opened the door.

"Hey," he said, inviting her in.

"We need to talk," she said.

"I kinda figured that," he said with a bit of a laugh.

"When you made that scene in front of Stefan and Damon I was so mad at you. I wanted to send you flying through the wall. You know, like I told you nothing was going to happen- so why couldn't you just leave it alone? I should really just tell you that all of this, it's only you- that I don't feel anything. And I wanted to tell you that because I still do think that nothing _should _happen here. Saying that it's all you- that whatever this thing is, is one sided would be easy. It would probably be the best thing, because I really do think you'd be better off without me, but it would also be a lie. And I don't really wanna lie... I like you Jeremy. You're sweet and you've been a really good guy. I've known you practically forever but it's like all of a sudden you just sort of popped up out of nowhere. You took me completely by surprise. I'm not exactly sure what I'm even trying to tell you right now. I asked Elena what she would think about this,' Bonnie said, pointing between herself and Jeremy.

"She said that she'd be fine with it, and I've got to admit, Elena reacting badly was one of my biggest fears in all of this. I came here to tell you that this isn't one-sided, okay? I don't really know any more than that, though," she said.

"Well, since you're here and since it's not one-sided and since you can't use the Elena excuse on me now, I think there's really only one thing left to do," Jeremy said.

"And what would that one thing be?" Bonnie asked with a smile.

"To actually let me kiss you this time," Jeremy said, leaning down to capture her lips with his, not even waiting for an answer.

After a moment Bonnie bit her lip and smiled "So _that's _what that feels like, huh? I like it."

o-o-o-o-o-o-o

"Here we go," Caroline whispered to Elena. She saw Damon in the shadows. "And don't worry E, I'll be fine," Caroline said quickly as Damon came at her.

Elena did not buy that no one was getting hurt right now. But maybe that was just a vampire thing.

"Help," Elena yelled. "Help, please," she screamed. "Help! Oh God, Caroline," Elena said, yelling some more, sounding as scared as possible, and getting ready to put on a good act.

Elijah popped out of nowhere and threw both Damon and Caroline away from each other at the same time.

"Oh my God. Thank you so much Elijah," Elena said, making herself cry. "I thought he was going to kill her," she said, putting a hand over her mouth and running over to her friend.

Caroline gave her a wink.

"What the fuck Damon?" Caroline yelled.

"Damon?" Elena repeated. "That was you? What the hell? Why did you just attack Caroline?" Elena asked, wiping away the tears she had forced herself to cry.

"You're little Barbie friend thinks it's funny to play around with the blood. The little twit swapped my stuff with the animal crap," Damon said angrily.

"Are you insane?" Elena yelled at him. "You attack her and nearly give me a heart-attack because she swapped the blood as a joke? You're such an ass."

"Oh chill out, Barbie's fine. Just wanted to teach her a little lesson is all. It's not like I was going to kill her."

"How the hell was I supposed to know that when all I see is some psycho charging at her and apparently hurting her," Elena said back.

"It's okay Elena. We're even now, Damon. Right?" Caroline said.

"You swapped my blood, I pummelled you. We're even," Damon said. "Don't pout Elena. Blondie's cool so you need to forgive me too."

"Well, if I'm not actually needed here anymore. I have things to do," Elijah said, annoyed, turning to leave.

"Wait, Elijah!" Elena called.

The ancient vampire turned to face her.

"Thank you," Elena told him.

"I'm forgiven for my mess up then, I take it?" Elijah asked with a little smirk.

"Yeah," Elena said. "Thanks for coming to help tonight, though apparently it wasn't needed. I think I might need some new friends because these two are freaks."

Elijah laughed. "Have a good evening Elena."

And then he was gone.

Caroline was about to comment but Elena put her finger to her lips to shush her friend. She didn't want to say anything related to what just happened until they got inside.

When they got back to the house Elena finally spoke. "I feel better now. He showed up. I just don't ever want him to know that was all a set-up because somehow I don't see him being too happy about that."

"I don't like the guy, but I think he's on the up and up," Damon said.

"I really think he just messed up last night. Cuz he came through tonight," Caroline said.

"Elena, by the way, I applaud the theatrics. That was some good acting," Caroline told her.

"I can pull off a lot when something's important," Elena said with a shrug.

"What did you pull off?" Stefan asked, coming through the door.

"After last night, I wasn't feeling good about Elijah. I thought that maybe he was a liar, so I kind of thought up a little test. And well, Elijah passed- so everything's good again. He showed up when we 'needed' him to," Elena said, doing the air quote thing. "I'm not worried about him being a liar anymore. He'll keep his word."

"Damon attacked me Elena was scared and didn't know what to do. She screamed and screamed and Elijah came in to save the day. The end," Caroline said, summing it all up.

_So much for telling Caroline and Damon about the white-ash wood then. They think Elijah's okay. _

o-o-o-o-o-o-o-

Stefan lay awake as Elena slept curled up beside him. He absentmindedly rubbed her shoulder with his thumb as he listened to the beat of her heart. It was something so small, but something that always had a calming affect on him.

That calming sound. That beautiful sound. If Elijah had his way, Stefan would never hear that sound again. Stefan hated that guy with a passion and he could not wait to get rid of him. Get rid of him and Klaus and anyone who was a threat to Elena. Stefan wasn't going to let anything happen to her- not a single thing.

He got up slowly, and as quietly as possible and pulled up the sheet a little higher around Elena so she would be warmer.

He went to the basement, grabbed some blood bags and poured the contents into a couple of bottles and headed off to see Katherine.

Elena opened her eyes and Stefan wasn't there. She wondered where he went so she got out of his bed and went to see if he was downstairs. He wasn't there or anywhere in the house for that matter.

Elena went back into his room and got back into the bed. He probably just went for a walk. Sometimes he couldn't sleep, she knew that. She decided that he had indeed just went out for a walk and decided she'd stay up and wait for him to get back.

o-o-o-o-o-o-o

"Catch," Stefan said, tossing the first bottle at Katherine.

"Thanks," Katherine said.

"Have you had any visitors?" Stefan asked, referring to Elijah.

"No," Katherine said out loud, though she was nodding her head 'yes' for Stefan to see. "You want to pass me that other bottle?"

Stefan tossed her the second bottle which she quickly drank.

"You remember when I told you how much I loved the quiet?" Katherine asked.

Stefan took a minute to answer because he so clearly remembered what she was talking about and it wasn't something she should be bringing up. Not anymore. Those times were over.

"I remember," he said. "I don't know why you're bringing that up. We're not in 1864 anymore and I'm with Elena. You shouldn't bring up stuff from the past, not that stuff. Have a little respect for my relationship."

"But there was _so much_ of that stuff," Katherine said with a wistful smile, remembering that year. "Anyway, chill out. Faithful, loyal boyfriend award goes to you. I only meant, here, now- I can't stand the quiet anymore. I hate it in here... And this is about the time that you'd be leaving. Am I correct?"

"Yep," Stefan said.

"Gotta get back to Elena before she gets up and wonders where you are. Off you go. Sweet dreams to you, Stefan.

"Goodnight Katherine," he replied, knowing she'd be visiting him in his dreams soon.

As he walked back to his house he wondered what exactly had happened today that made Katherine say she hadn't had any visitors she actually did. Elijah probably compelled her to forget, but of course it didn't work.

He got back in the house and moved as quietly as possible and made his way back into his bed.

"Where'd you go?" he heard Elena ask sleepily.

"Just went downstairs for a minute," he said.

"Just downstairs?" she said.

"Yeah," he said, taking a strand of her hair in his hand.

"Oh, okay," she said.

"Go back to sleep," he laughed. "Love you," he said, kissing her temple.

"Love you too," she said. _Where were you Stefan? You weren't downstairs and you weren't only gone for a minute. You've been gone for at least half an hour. Why are you lying to me?_


	12. Chapter 12

o-0-o-0-o- Hey guys! Thanks to those who reviewed. Here's the new chapter. I hope you like it. Let me know what you think. Reviews always give me that good old push to work on a new chapter faster. Enjoy o-0-o-0-o-

"_What happened today, Katherine? Elijah came down to see you, didn't he?" Stefan asked Katherine._

"_Yep. I swear he's such a sick bastard. He came down not that long before you did saying that you guys were a bunch of idiots who trusted him far too easily and that getting rid of everyone when the time came was going to be even easier than he and Klaus had originally thought," Katherine said._

"_Did he say anything else?" Stefan asked._

"_Yep and this is really big, like really, really big," Katherine said. "I know the day that Klaus is coming to town. I know the day that they plan to do the sacrifice."_

"_When?" Stefan asked._

"_4 months and 15 days from now," she told him. "They want to break the curse on the same day that it all started however many years ago. He told me that on that day he and Klaus would finish what they started over 500 years ago when they killed my family- they'd finally rid the earth of every last Petrova. Of course, just like the last time he told me something like that he wanted to see my reaction to get his kicks, then of course, he compelled me, or he thought he did anyway."_

"_How do you think it is that the compulsion hasn't worked on you the past two times?" Stefan asked her._

"_Honestly, I don't know. I have a theory, but really, it's just a theory. I have no clue if it's true or not. I think it hasn't been working because maybe I'm ready for it, you know? Like when he comes to see me with no-one else around- I'm always thinking that he's going to try to compel me, and maybe because I know what he's going to do it helps me not get affected. I don't know, really."_

"_You could be right, who knows," Stefan said._

"_Who cares about that right now anyway? We know when this crap is going to go down, do you know how good that is? Tell me you've made some progress with the white-ash wood."_

"_I know where the white-ash tree is," Stefan told her._

"_I knew you could find out," Katherine smiled. "You just need to be careful though cuz Elijah does keep an eye on you guys here and there."_

"_Bonnie's pretty sure that between her and Lucy they can probably get the stuff without anyone having any idea."_

"_You've got two Bennett's in on this?" Katherine said, looking impressed._

"_Bonnie always wanted to do whatever she could to help out and she got Lucy to agree to help out with some stuff. I don't know if she's mentioned you're involved to Lucy, though."_

"_She's probably afraid Lucy would have said no. Couldn't really blame the woman if she didn't want to come, though, since I kind of want to snap her neck after she made it possible for Damon to throw me in here," Katherine said._

"_The only necks you're allowed to snap are Elijah and Klaus's, got it?" Stefan said. "We're not getting you out of here so you can attack people who don't deserve it."_

"_Chill out, Stefan. I'm gonna play nice, don't worry. I'm just saying that that's what I want to do, not that I'm actually going to do it. Don't worry about my anger and aggression. There's _nobody _that I want revenge on more than Elijah and Klaus. I can play good guy for a little while to get rid of those bastards."_

"_Good," Stefan said._

"_You'll come by again, tomorrow?" Katherine asked._

"_Yeah," Stefan said._

"_Okay, I'll see you tomorrow then," Katherine said, leaving the dream._

o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-

Damon wiped the blood off his lips as the woman stared back at him, scared.

"Chill out, I'm not gonna kill you. I'm being less of a monstery-monster today. I got what I wanted from you. You will not remember any of this. All you will remember is that you got tired and pulled your car over and closed your eyes for a bit. Do you understand?" Damon said, sounding bored.

"Yes," the woman said, nodding.

"Okay. Go away now," Damon said, shooing the woman off.

Damon did not care what anyone said, there was a huge difference in blood from a bag and fresh blood from a person. Nothing was as good as taking blood from the real source. It just tasted better.

Yeah, he attacked the woman, but he had let her go. He didn't kill her, and that was definitely better than the last time.

He wondered what the girls would think if they knew what he had done before, and even now.

Bonnie would set his ass on fire guaranteed if she knew that he had killed that first girl and she'd probably re-introduce him to the aneurisms she was so good at if she could see him tonight. But he didn't think she'd go farther than that for tonight. She had softened towards him, even though it practically murdered her to acknowledge that she didn't hate him anymore.

Caroline would berate him and call him worthless.

Elena would be angry and disappointed in him but she'd also be worried about him, even after doing what he did and he would never really understand why.

She cared about him and he didn't think he deserved it. Even though it drove him crazy to be good all the time, he couldn't help but want to be a little bit better for her.

He wished that he could get her out of his mind and his heart, but he couldn't. And as much as he'd stopped being a trouble-maker and trying to take her from his brother, he could not help but still want her for himself.

He could want her all he wanted, but he was pretty sure that he could never have her and that really sucked.

o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-

"Jeremy, I have to go. I should have left a _long _time ago. We shouldn't have started drinking. There's a reason I don't really do much drinking. I get drunk- my brain doesn't work and I act like and idiot. I do things that I regret. I do things I _never_ would have done otherwise," Bonnie said, walking away from the Gilbert house. "There were _no _plans for what happened tonight to happen. None at all. Making out, sure, but not that, not tonight. I'm not like that... I just can't believe I did that on the first night. I don't give it away that easy, Jer. I need to go and sleep all this alcohol away... No more drinking for me."

She had tried to sneak out of the house quietly but just as she got one foot out the door Jeremy had appeared.

"If you really like me like you say you do, that was gonna happen eventually- it just happened a lot sooner. We were drunk. We slept together. It's not the end of the world. It was pretty awesome, actually," Jeremy said.

"Oh my God, shut up. We're outside," Bonnie said.

"It's 3 a.m. Who the hell's gonna hear us at 3 a.m.?" Jeremy asked her.

"Anyone who might be taking a walk and have half-decent hearing," someone said.

"Oh my God," Bonnie muttered.

It was Damon.

"Come back inside, Bonnie," Jeremy said.

"I gotta go Jeremy. I'll call you in the afternoon, I promise," Bonnie said, walking further away from his house.

"So Bon-Bon. You and the littlest Gilbert did the nasty, huh?" Damon said with a chuckle.

"I don't want to do this right now, Damon," Bonnie said, rubbing her forehead.

"Was it really that bad?" he asked her.

"I am _not _talking about that with you," she said.

"I didn't mean it like that. Calm down, woman."

"Oh," was all she said.

Damon couldn't help but laugh.

"It's not funny, Damon," Bonnie said tiredly, rubbing her forehead again. "I don't wanna talk and it hurts to think. I need to sleep. I need all this alcohol out of my system so I can think properly again- so I don't act like a dumb-ass. I can't believe I slept with him tonight."

"I get it. You're a classy chick. You're not about sex as soon as you get with a guy. You make him work for it- make him know that you're not easy," Damon said.

"Exactly," Bonnie said. "And tonight that all went straight to hell. Stupid alcohol. Stupid me for drinking so much. I'm telling you that I would _not _ have let that happen if I wasn't drunk."

"You're okay right, Judgey?" Damon asked her, actually a bit concerned."He didn't-"

"It's not like that Damon," Bonnie said quickly, catching on to what he was getting at. "He didn't do anything wrong. I'm okay. I'm just pissed at myself. This may be the alcohol that's still kicking around inside me, but you actually sound concerned," Bonnie said, yet again rubbing her forehead.

"Maybe I was. You'll never know, Drunky" Damon said dramatically.

"I still totally am half-drunk right now. My head's killing me. I want to go to sleep so bad."

"Judgey, where the hell are you going?" Damon asked, stopping to look at where they were.

"I'm going home. I told you I wanna sleep," Bonnie said with a yawn.

"We're going the wrong way Bon-Bon," Damon said, laughing.

"Oh, you're right," she said, taking a look around. "Okay, I need to walk the other way now. I don't want to walk all the way back to my house. Caroline's house is close. I'll go crash with her instead."

"I don't think she's there witchy," Damon said. "Mutt called her before. I think she's with him."

"Hey, don't call him that. Matt's a sweetheart," Bonnie said, yawning once more.

"Do you want to just come crash at Casa de Salvatore since it's the closest thing to where we are right now?" he asked her.

"I'm so tired that I'm totally taking you up on that offer," Bonnie said, trying to keep her eyes open.

"And what would you have done if I wasn't here with you right now, Judgey?" Damon asked with a grin.

"If Care wasn't at home, at this point, I would totally plop my ass down on her porch, magic away the snow and fall asleep there. That is how tired I am."

"Lucky I was around, huh?"

"Who the hell would have ever thought that Damon Salvatore would turn out to be my friend?" Bonnie mumbled. "I know I sure as hell didn't."

"You said it. You _totally _just said it. You just said that we're friends," Damon said with a smirk.

"I'm half-drunk right. Nothing I say counts right now," Bonnie said.

"Said is said, half-drunk or not Bennett," Damon teased.

"Whatever, just stop talking now Salvatore. I need a soft surface to sleep on."

o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o

"I found some ID and here's her phone, Sherriff."

"Lucy Bennett. Oh God, I hope she's not related to Bonnie Bennett," Liz Forbes said with a sigh.

Liz opened the woman's phone and saw that she had a voicemail message waiting to be heard. Liz pushed the button to hear the message and she shook her head when she heard the voice that left the message. It had been Bonnie Bennet.

Bonnie was a girl who'd dealt with a lot. Her father was practically never around and she didn't really know her mother- the woman had taken off when Bonnie was still pretty young. The only real constant family Bonnie had had was her grandmother and it hadn't even been a year since she passed away. Liz felt horrible that someone else Bonnie knew just vanished from her life. She did not need something like this on her plate. She really hated that she would have to tell her about this.

It looked like Lucy had somehow lost control of her car and slid off the road. That was really weird since it wasn't icy or rainy at all and it didn't seem like she had been drinking at all.

Liz Forbes just shook her head again. She picked up her own phone and dialled Bonnie's phone number.

o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-

Katherine closed her eyes and took herself back to 1864, back to the time when she told Stefan that she loved the quiet.

"_My sweet, sweet Stefan," Katherine whispered as Stefan left a trail of kisses from her lips down to her shoulder._

_The door was locked and their clothing lay on the floor as Stefan and Katherine moved with each other, kissed each other, whispered to one another as they were connected in the most intimate of ways._

_Stefan had stopped kissing her for a moment but did not move his body from hers. They remained the way they were as he touched her face. "There is nothing more beautiful than you- nothing more perfect," he told her._

_Katherine smiled. "This, Stefan. You and I, here, like this- this is perfection."_

_He resumed kissing her and Katherine pulled him closer. She pulled him in deeper until they could get no closer. There were no parts of their bodies that were not touching in one way or another._

"_Do you know why I love the quiet, Stefan?" she asked him with a grin._

"_Why, Katherine?"_

"_In the quiet, you can hear what love sounds like," she said._

"_It must sound like this then," he told her._

"_Exactly like this," she responded._

That had only been a day or two before she had been captured and 'thrown into the tomb'. One of the best and worst things about being stuck in the tomb now was having nothing but tons of time to get caught up in memories. A lot of them were wonderful but horrible at the same time because as soon as the memory ended she would have to recall how so much had changed since then. How Stefan was no longer hers.

o-o-o-o-o-o-o-

"Hey Bon-Bon," Damon said, seeing if he could wake Bonnie up without shaking her awake.

No such luck.

"Come on Judgey, you need to wake up," Damon said, putting a hand on her shoulder.

"Damon?" Bonnie said, opening her eyes.

"Yup, that's me."

"What am I- oh yeah okay, never mind. I remember that. What time is it and why do I have to wake up right now?"

"Caroline's mom called me. She couldn't get a hold of you. She asked if you had a cell phone number or something. I told her I'd tell you-" Damon said, not really sure how to tell her what the Sherriff had told him.

"Is everything okay?" Bonnie asked, sitting up. "Is Caroline okay?" Bonnie asked, now worried.

"Barbie's fine," Damon said.

"What is it? Is it Elena? Did something happen to her?" Bonnie asked. She was starting to panic.

"She's fine too. She's upstairs with Stefan."

"Okay you're waking me up which means this somehow has to do with me. Is it Jeremy? Did something happen to him- no it can't be him cuz Elena would know... Oh God- my Dad? Did something happen to my dad, Damon?" Bonnie asked, extremely worried.

"No, no. Not your father. Come on, let's go. I told her I'd bring you down to see her."

She grabbed Damon's arm. "Hey, come on. Tell me what the hell happened. Please!"

"Someone's dead, okay," he said. "Come on. We've got to go."

"Who?" she asked frantically as she closed the door behind her, following Damon to his car.

"Why the hell do I have to tell you? I don't wanna tell you Bon-Bon. It's actually been quite awhile since I've enjoyed seeing you miserable. So I'm not exactly thrilled to be the one to tell you."

"I'm not gonna be mad at you. You just know. You have information and I don't. So tell me, please," Bonnie said as Damon started driving.

"Isn't pretty much everyone you really care about in this town, with the exception of your dad and maybe a relative or two?" Damon said, wanting her to figure it out on her own. He really didn't want to have to tell her Lucy was dead.

"Yeah," Bonnie said, nodding.

"Well, your dad's fine and the Mystic Falls crowd is fine," Damon said.

"Oh my God," Bonnie said, biting her lip. "Lucy?" she said, practically whispering.

Damon nodded. "I'm sorry."

Bonnie was silent for about two minutes straight. Damon saw water pool in her eyes, but not one tear fell. She kept blinking, trying to make the water go away.

After a couple minutes she finally spoke again. "The Sherriff's wrong," Bonnie said. "Lucy's not dead. They made a mistake."

"Bon-" Damon started to speak but Bonnie cut him off.

"They made a mistake Damon. It has to be a mistake. That's all," Bonnie said, taking a deep breath. "We'll go down and see the Sherriff and we'll see that they're wrong. Lucy can't be dead. She's not."

Damon kept his mouth shut. He didn't want to piss off Bonnie or make her feel worse right now. Lucy was dead, Bonnie just couldn't accept that yet.

o-o-o-o-o-o-

I know you're awake," Stefan said, kissing Elena's shoulder.

"I am, but that doesn't mean I want to open my eyes right now," Elena mumbled.

"Hey," Stefan said gently. "Are you mad at me or something?"

_Yes, a bit. Why won't you just say where you went?_

"Do you trust me, Stefan?"

"Of course I do," he told her.

She looked at him and she knew that he meant it.

_Just leave it alone, Elena. It's not like you tell him every single little thing that you do. He's allowed to do stuff without telling you. You're being paranoid and there's no need to be. You _know _he's not messing around on you because you know that you're his heart. Maybe he just needed a bit of time to himself and just didn't want to say anything in case you felt bad about it or it took it the wrong way or something._

"Okay," Elena said, smiling. She was just being a weirdo, she knew.

"Did I miss something?" Stefan asked her.

"Don't mind me. Grouchy moment over," she told him.

"You're entitled to some grouchiness now and then," Stefan grinned.

"What are you up for today?" Elena asked him, covering her yawn.

"I'm good with lying here and watching you sleep," Stefan said, seeing she was still tired. It was early after all.

"Nope. We're both awake. I'm never awake this early Stefan, let's take advantage of it. I don't think this will be happening again for a long time," she laughed.

"Yeah, I don't see me getting too many more early mornings where you're actually awake."

"I like sleep, what can I say?" Elena chuckled. "But today I'm going to brave the morning. We're gonna do something like right now. You pick while I see how long it takes me to get dressed and brush my teeth this early."

"You don't have to hurry for me. The day isn't going anywhere."

"Stefan, this moment could be marked as some sort of historical event- we really should take advantage of every second cuz we both know that me being awake at this time may never happen again," she said cheerily, over being upset before.

"Where do you wanna go?" Stefan asked.

"I said you pick," she told him. "I'll go wherever you want, since we're always doing what I want. Take me somewhere for the day, show me something that's important to you, something I've never seen before- tell me a secret, I don't know- whatever you want," she insisted. "And don't be thinking about what's going to make me have fun, because I totally know that's what you're thinking right now."

"What's wrong with wanting you to have fun?" he said smiling.

"See how well I know your brain," she laughed. "I do not care about fun. Even if you think it'll be boring or whatever, I don't care- we're going to do whatever you want, even if it's just to sit somewhere and talk."

"Okay," Stefan said.

"Soooooo did you decide yet?" Elena asked, trying to be annoying.

"Give me a little more than 2 seconds," Stefan laughed. "Teeth brushed, clothes on at 6 am. You should take a picture to prove that this actually happened," he said as Elena walked out of the bathroom.

Elena just grinned as she walked over to the nightstand and grabbed the letter opener. She went over and sat beside Stefan.

"Elena, you _know _you don't have to do this for me, right?"

"Yes, Stefan. I know. But I know the whole blood thing isn't easy for you and I want to help you. I _know _that me doing this helps. I know that _because _it's me, because it's my blood it helps.

"That _is_true," he said.

"You wanna know how I know that?" she asked.

"Tell me."

"I wanted the fist human blood to touch your lips to be mine because first of all I just wanted to help you and second, I knew that even though you'd want human blood in general, mine would be the one you wanted most. And if it's mine that you really want, everything will stay under control because I know that I'm safe with you. I know you'd never do anything to hurt me. I know that you'd never take too much. You love me too much to even chance it."

"Wow."

"Now here, take it," Elena said, making a cut on her hand.

Stefan brought her hand to his lips and took in her blood.

When he was done he told her "If this _ever _hurts you, you tell me right away and we'll stop."

"Shush," Elena said. "Now tell me where we're going boyfriend."

"I'm going to give you a tour of Mystic Falls of the 1800s, well really, finish the one I started last year. Show you some things I didn't get to show you last time."

Elena clapped her hands together. She had actually been thinking about asking him to do exactly this a couple weeks ago. "I like this plan."

o-o-o-o-o-o-o-

Bonnie's eyes had been closed for the past thirty seconds and Damon could hear her heart racing.

"You don't need me to stay, right?" Bonnie asked, finally opening her eyes, her hands clenched into fists.

"No sweetheart," Liz Forbes said.

The lights in the station started to flicker and Bonnie quickly exited.

By the time Bonnie and Damon got outside it literally sounded as if Bonnie's heart was going to burst out of her chest. The snow was pouring off the surrounding trees and Damon knew that it was whatever Bonnie was feeling that was making it happen.

"You can go now, Damon," Bonnie finally said as the puddle of water in front of her instantly turned to ice.

"Do you _want _me to go?" he asked.

"Honestly and seriously, no offense, but yeah. I need to be alone for a bit."

"Do you maybe just want to go back to your house right now and _then _I'll get out of your hair and you can be alone?" Damon asked her carefully, not wanting to piss her off and create and even bigger wind than the one that was now blowing. He didn't think she should be outside right now because she was messing with a bunch of the elements with her emotions all over the place.

"Okay," was all she said. "I wanna walk, though."

"We can walk," he told her.

Bonnie felt like something had broken inside of her. Realistically, she and Lucy didn't know each other too, too well, but that didn't change the fact that Lucy's death took a piece out from Bonnie's heart. Lucy was cool and smart and she had been family that Bonnie was actually making a connection with. And now she was dead.

Another piece of Bonnie's heart got taken away with Lucy because Bonnie felt helpless right now. Lucy was supposed to help her. Lucy would have helped with the white-ash wood and Lucy would have helped her het Katherine out of the tomb. Couldn't do that anymore.

If Lucy couldn't help, then Elena was still in danger, Elena could still get killed and that's when Bonnie couldn't take it anymore, she just collapsed.

When Bonnie opened her eyes she was sitting in Damon's car.

"Oh good, you were only out a few minutes," he said. "Listen, I'm not so good with the nice stuff. I'm sorry your cousin's dead, but don't try anything stupid after I watch you walk into your house. Go home and cry or something. Do what you do when you lose someone you care about but don't do anything else. If you haven't noticed, your powers are all over the place and I'm guessing so is your mind. Just chill for a bit, witchy," Damon told her.

_Chill. Yeah right. I don't have time to chill. I don't even have time to be sad or cry. I need to make myself stronger ASAP. I need to try to find a way to open the tomb myself. I need to get strong enough so that we can get the white-ash wood without anyone knowing._

"And clean up your hand, Judgey," he told her when she opened the car door

She looked down at her hand and noticed that she had scraped it when she fell. It was bleeding a bit.

_Blood!_

Bonnie looked from her hand and over to Damon and couldn't even believe the thoughts that were starting to form in her head.

She didn't even want to consider what she was thinking, but if she couldn't figure anything else out, she'd have to do it. She'd have to ask for his help. She did not want to ask for his help, even though she was actually pretty sure he'd give it, she still wasn't 100% comfortable with the idea and she did not know what she would say. She couldn't tell him the exact reason why she needed to get stronger so quickly.

She honestly hadn't planned on saying anything or asking him anything yet, but it just sort of slipped out. Keeping Elena safe and alive was far more important than Bonnie's pride at the moment.

"Lucy was going to help me get stronger and she's gone now. I might need your help and it might involve your blood. If I need your help, will you help me?"

Damon raised his eyebrow.

"Just give me a yes or no answer. I'm sure you'll want something in return and we can negotiate that after I know if I need your help or not. Tell me, will you help me if I need it?" she asked.

Damon was just plain curious right now. "Yeah," he said.

"Yeah?" she repeated.

He just nodded.

"This stays between you and me, though, okay?" Bonnie said.

"Ooooh I like this. We've got a secret," Damon said with a grin.

o-o-o-o-o-o-o-

"What was here before?" Elena asked. "I get the feeling something used to be here before."

"My grandmother's house. My mother's mother. She lived here with my aunt until she passed away."

"Were you young?" Elena asked.

"I was 4. Damon was 8. My grandmother died a couple weeks after my mother did, actually. That's horrible. I'm sorry," Elena said. "I didn't mean to make you bring up sad stuff. If you don't want to say anything else, it's okay," Elena said sympathetically.

"It's okay," Stefan said. "I don't mind talking about this stuff with you. It's actually kinda nice to remember my family before everything got crazy. So go ahead and ask me whatever you want, I know you've been wondering for a long time but didn't want to ask in case talking about my family would upset me because of what happened with my father."

"You tell me whatever you feel comfortable telling me," she said.

"Are you cold?" he asked her.

"No, I'm good," she said.

Stefan's arms were around her waist before she could blink, and before she could say anything she was sitting on his lap on some old tree-stump.

"I haven't felt comfortable talking about life before- but here with you. It feels good," Stefan whispered, kissing the back of her head after telling her a little bit about his mom and grandmother.

"I'm glad," she said, and Stefan could hear the smile in her voice. Whatever had been bothering her before was long gone.

"My aunt would have loved you. She'd say thank you to you if she could."

"Why would she thank me?" Elena asked.

"She left Mystic Falls when I was fifteen to go stay with one of her sick cousins to help take care of her. My father had sent Damon off to school somewhere and I didn't see too much of my dad. I told her that our house did not feel like home anymore. Damon was gone and she was leaving- they were what made it home. She told me that her wish for me was to one day find someone who could make any place home. That's you, Elena. _You're _my home."

Stefan's arms were wrapped around her waist from behind. She loosened his arms so that she was holding his hands in hers. She placed a kiss on both hands and just leaned back into him with a happy smile on her face.

This was love.


	13. Chapter 13

o-0-o-0-o- Okay guys here we go. New chapter! This one is shorter, but I'll update it tomorrow or Sunday at the latest so I won't keep you waiting long. Thanks for the reviews last chapter... lol and Hooked-On-TVD I don't know why there aren't more reviews. Some people just don't have the time to comment I guess. Anyway ladies and gents, I hope you like the chapter. Leave me a review and let me know what you think and remember I'll have a new chapter tomorrow or Sunday o-0-o-0-o

"_Hello."_

"_Huh- who's this?"_

"_This is Michael. Who is this?"_

"_Oh Michael, okay. It's Lucy, hey."_

"_Is everything alright, Lucy?"_

"_I'm heading to visit my little cuz in Mystic Falls?"_

"_You're going to see Bonnie?" Michael asked._

"_Yep. I made a little stop before. I stopped at a bar. I'm kinda drunk right now, if you can't tell. I sent Bonnie an email telling her I'd be there by tonight but I just wanted to call her, but I called you instead- to tell her I'd be there in the afternoon tomorrow cuz I'm not gonna drive when I'm drunk. Do you think you could just call her and let her know?" Lucy said._

"_Okay, I can do that."_

"_What the hell," Lucy mumbled._

"_Is everything okay?" Michael asked._

"_I think someone's following me."_

"_Lucy, are you alright?'_

"_Seriously, someone's following me."_

"_Lucy, where are you?"_

"_I'm about an hour away from Mystic Falls. I'm half-way between the Star's and Moon Bar and the Drop-In Motel," Lucy said quickly._

"_I'm going to come meet you, okay," Michael said._

"_That might not be a good idea. For real, someone's following me- two people I think."_

"_That's _why _I'm coming to meet you. I'm not far away from where you are at all. I'll be there soon-" And then his phone battery died._

_Lucy tried to clear her head as much as possible and focus. She was strong, even if she was drunk. She wasn't stupid and she was aware. She did not have a good feeling about what was going to happen in the next little bit, in fact she had a terrible feeling. She felt dread._

_Lucy took a deep breath and prepared herself for a fight, but not before push the video/audio recorder on her cell phone. She was being followed and she knew it wasn't by some everyday thug or thief. She was being followed by at least one witch or warlock._

_If something was going to happen at least she'd get some audio of it._

_She knew it was a witch or warlock following her but she was prepared to use anything in addition to her powers, so she grabbed the little exacto knife that she carried in her purse too._

"_I know I'm being followed and I know what you are. The questions are, though, why are you following me and who are you?" Lucy said loudly. "Oh, and I'll give you a fair warning- you _don't _want to mess with me._

_Michael only arrived in time to see Lucy grab at one of the two men's necks before falling to the ground. Michael knew that Lucy was dead._

"_You wanted to know what I want and who I am?" one of the men said. "The name is Jonas Martin and what I want is to make sure that none of you Bennett's screw up my plans. I'm planning on paying your little cousin Bonnie a visit very soon- tonight actually," he said as he picked up Lucy's body and put it inside a car._

_Michael felt sick to his stomach for leaving, but he knew that she was dead. That man called Jonas Martin was trying to make it look like she died in a car crash. The man flicked his wrist and the car took off._

_Michael was going to make this man pay for what he did to Lucy, that was a promise, but right now he needed to get to Bonnie before Jonas did and make sure she was alright._

o-o-o-o-o-o-o-

Bonnie picked up the phone to give Elena and Caroline a call. She didn't want to talk about what happened to Lucy because it just stirred up way too many emotions. When she thought about it for more than a minute, she just wanted to cry, Elena and Caroline and her had made a deal to let each other know when something bad happens and that was the only reason she was calling.

Bonnie was really happy when she got both of their voicemails so she left a quick message telling them what happened to Lucy but not to worry about her.

She didn't bother calling Stefan because she was pretty sure he was with Elena and that she'd tell him what happened.

Bonnie grabbed the grimoire and started reading. She wanted to see if there was some way, something she had missed that would help her to strengthen her powers, besides a lot of time practicing and something other than channelling, because that would only help her to a certain extent. Bonnie pretty much already knew that she wasn't going to find anything, but she had to at least try to find a different way before going to Damon.

After about half an hour, Bonnie put the grimoire down and wondered why she was only thinking this right now. She started to talk out loud to herself.

"How the hell did Lucy die in a car accident? A car accident wouldn't kill her. She was too strong for that. I know witches aren't indestructible; we can die just like anyone else, but it's not even icy or rainy outside. How the hell would she just veer off the road and crash? Even if she did veer off the road she would have had enough reaction time to focus the car back where it should have been or at least been able to cushion the impact of the crash for herself.

Bonnie headed out the door and back to the police station. Bonnie had this sudden urge to find out more about what happened because the more she thought about it, the more she didn't believe that Lucy died in a car crash.

Bonnie wanted to see what they had of Lucy's in evidence and see if she could find anything else out. Before Bonnie got too close to the police station she made sure to cut the lights out in front of the station. Her plan was to go in and get out quickly. She would cut the lights and get the fire alarm to go off in the station so that she could get in and out without being seen and do it fast.

When it was all said and done Bonnie was in and out of the station in about two minutes. All that seemed to be important was Lucy`s cell-phone but there was also a necklace. Bonnie didn`t like the idea of it staying in the ugly and dark evidence room so she took both things. Before she left Bonnie grabbed a couple things from some other evidence bags so that it wouldn`t look too suspicious having only certain things get stolen.

She made sure all the lights went back on as soon as she was far enough away from the station. She walked home quickly so she could look through Lucy`s phone in private.

She knew Caroline`s mom had listened to the voicemail but she was pretty sure no one had looked into anything else on the phone yet.

She got to her house only to find Matt sitting on her porch.

"Hey Matty," Bonnie said.

"Hey Bon."

"Missed me, huh?" she said, giving him a smile.

"Yeah, actually I did kinda miss you, but I also wanted to talk to you about something if you've got some time," he said.

"Why don't you come in," she said, opening the door.

"Thanks."

"Come on sit down," she sat patting the couch. "What's up? How are things with Caroline? I heard you guys were together last night and I didn't have a chance to talk to her yet."

"You must know and now I know too, but I don't think she knows that I know-"

"Matt, what are you talking about?" Bonnie asked gently.

"Caroline's a vampire. I need to know, did she kill my sister?"

Bonnie tried to keep her jaw from dropping. Before she could think of anything to say, she was saved or possibly in for a huge headache as Elena, Caroline, Jeremy and Stefan walked in.

Elena and Caroline pulled her into an immediate hug. They must have got her message.

"Bon-Bon. I think it's about time you finally cave in and give me an invitation," Damon said from outside.

No one had seen Matt.

"He's one too? Oh my God," Matt said. "And you, Stefan? You too?" Matt asked, practically yelling.

"Fine. Come in," Bonnie mumbled.

"Matt. You need to calm down right now," Elena said.

Bonnie took this opportunity to walk out of the room. She was going to let them all deal with Matt learning about vampires because frankly she wasn't even sure what to say, that, and she really wanted to go through Lucy's phone.

Bonnie went straight to the camera section and saw that there was a video. She couldn't see anything but there was definitely audio. When it was done Bonnie was literally shaking and the lights were flickering. Jonas Martin killed Lucy and he was coming for her next.

Matt burst through the door. "Bon, I'm so sorry- I didn't know your cousin died."

Bonnie knew he was speaking but she couldn't hear what he was saying. The lightbulb above burst and the glass fragments fell to the ground.

Jonas Martin was going to pay. That was the only thing that Bonnie knew right now. Bonnie moved past Matt and headed for the door. Maybe it was stupid, but she was going to find Jonas and she was going to do some damage. She didn't care that she'd been worried about not being strong enough before. Right now she felt like she could do anything.

She was completely unaware of the things around her breaking and shattering left, right and centre.

"Bonnie, hey," Jeremy said gently, trying to get her attention. "You wanna just breathe for a second. You're gonna hurt someone, and probably yourself."

He got her attention with that. "You're damn right I'm gonna hurt somebody," Bonnie said, moving him aside, heading for the door.

Bonnie stopped dead in her tracks. Her father walked into the house.

"Daddy?" Bonnie said quietly.

"Hey Baby. What's with the full house?" Michael Bennet said, laughing in pain.

"Are you okay daddy?" Bonnie said, noticing that her father was clutching his side.

"Don't worry about me little girl," he said, smiling. "All that matters is that I made sure he won't ever be able to hurt you-"

"Daddy, it's okay. You can talk- I trust these guys."

"Jonas Martin killed your cousin Lucy. He was gonna kill you too. You don't need to worry about that anymore though. He's dead. I killed him," Michael said, falling to the floor, blood pooling all around him. "He got me pretty damn good too, though."


	14. Chapter 14

o-0-o-0-o-Here's the new chapter. I really hope you're all going to enjoy it. Thanks for the reviews last chapter. Leave me a review for this one and let me know what you think o-0-o-0-o-

"Oh my God," Bonnie said, frantic. "Daddy, I'm gonna help you. Don't worry. I can make the blood go away. I can make it stop,. Open your eyes" she said, putting her hands over her father's bleeding area, beginning to chant.

When Bonnie didn't see any change in her dad, she started to freak out. "What the hell did he do to you?" she screamed.

Stefan, Damon and Caroline apparently all had the same idea because before Bonnie knew it all three of them were beside her. Caroline had got there first though. Before Bonnie could even think about it Caroline's bleeding wrist was in her father's mouth.

"Thank you," Bonnie managed to say.

When Caroline removed her wrist Bonnie didn't bother to wait and see if that was enough. She knew that whatever Jonas did, it was strong. She didn't know if Caroline's blood would be enough to make everything better. Bonnie began to chant some more.

If the situation in the room wasn't serious as hell, Damon would have burst out laughing at the look on Matt's face. The guy could not believe what he was seeing. He was pretty much shocked out of his mind. He kept looking from Bonnie to her dad to himself and Stefan and Caroline and then he'd look at Elena and Jeremy who were next to him. Even though the guy was clearly freaked out, Damon could say this for Matt, he was definitely concerned for Bonnie and her dad.

Damon pulled his attention away from Matt and back to Bonnie and her father when he heard Stefan speak.

"Bonnie. You can stop now. He's opening his eyes," Stefan said.

Bonnie let out a sigh of relief and put her head in her hands.

"Can you get up? Do you need some help?" Bonnie heard Stefan asking her dad.

Bonnie lifted her head up and saw Elena pulling out a chair. "Stefan bring him here," Elena said. "The couch is full of bits of glass."

Before Bonnie knew it, Jeremy was in front of her holding out his hand to help her up. Bonnie gave him a little smile. She was perfectly capable of getting up on her own but she took his hand anyway.

"What the hell?" Bonnie heard her father say, as he backed away from Stefan.

Bonnie knew instantly what had happened. Her father knew that Stefan was a vampire.

"Dad, it's okay," Bonnie said. "Calm down."

"He's a-"

"I said it's okay dad. He's a good guy."

"But he's a-"

"He's a good guy," Bonnie said again. "He's a vampire, get over it. There's way more important things to talk about right now."

"You're friends with a vampire," Bonnie's dad mumbled.

"With more than one actually," Caroline said, holding her hand up, hoping that her telling him that _she _was a vampire might make him feel better.

Michael Bennett's jaw dropped and Matt looked like he felt very sympathetic for the man. Damon couldn't help but laugh.

"And who are you?" Bonnie's dad asked him with a raised eyebrow.

"That's Damon. He's Stefan's brother," Bonnie said.

"_Brother_brother or some vampire thing?" Michael asked.

"Oh for God's sake," Bonnie practically yelled. "They're actual brothers and yes, they're both vampires now can we move on to the important stuff please? What the hell is going on? And since when were you a freakin' warlock because all I keep recalling right now is you saying that Grams was crazy and there was no such things as witches and magic.?"

"How about we talk about this later when we're alone."

"No," Bonnie said stubbornly. "We can talk in front of everyone. I trust them," she said. "Hold on a second," she mumbled before going over to Matt and taking him into the next room.

There was an awkward silence in the living room. "How've you been Mr. Bennett?" Elena asked, trying to make things less awkward.

In the kitchen, Matt wasn't quite sure what to say.

"I know that you're probably seriously freaking out on the inside right now, but Matt, I promise you that you can trust us. You can trust me. And Caroline loves you, okay? Damon's sometimes an ass but he's okay. And you know Stefan- he's a good guy. They're just a bit different. Yeah, I'm a witch, but I'm still me. I'm human just like you It's not my place to tell you about those three, but Care's my girl and I'm telling you that she's still pretty much the same girl she was when September first started... I've always trusted you, Matt. I need to be able to trust you now to keep all of our secrets. Please. You can't tell anyone. I need you to have my back on this, okay? I know that it's a lot to deal with, but please."

Matt just stared at the girl who had been his friend since as far back as he could remember for a minute. "I got your back," he said quietly.

"Thank you," she said giving him a hug.

"But I've got a lot of questions and I don't know if I can ask Caroline about all that stuff yet," Matt said.

"Me and Elena can fill you in, but not right now, okay?" Bonnie said.

"Of course not right now," Matt said. "Your cousin just died and I think your dad just almost did too. Take your time. I'm not gonna be an asshole."

"Thanks," she said. "Okay, let's get back out there. My dad has some explaining to do."

Bonnie started to walk back into the living room and heard Caroline and her dad talking so she

decided to keep Matt and herself where they were for the moment.

"No, this is definitely a pretty recent development?" Caroline said.

"What happened to you?" Michael asked, not unkindly.

"I was in car accident," Caroline said, a little uncomfortable. "I was in the hospital. I wasn't doing so well. Damon gave me some of his blood to help heal me and later, well- someone killed me."

"And now you're like this," Michael said quietly.

"Yeah," Caroline said, nodding.

Stefan could tell that Damon was itching to be Damon and say something sarcastic or inappropriate and he sent a glare his brother's way to warn him to keep his mouth shut. Caroline seemed to actually be doing well with Bonnie's dad and it would be nice to have the guy not hate their guts.

"I'm not so different, though," Caroline told him. "I'm still me. It's just kinda like I've got a couple new add-ons."

"Remember how you used to get mad when you found out that us and Bonnie had snuck out in the middle of the night?" Elena asked Bonnie's dad.

"Of course I remember that," he said, unable to help smiling a bit.

"You used to warn us about all the dirt-bags out there. You don't need to worry anymore. One, cuz your daughter's a witch and can totally keep the dirt-bags away, and two, cuz Caroline's really strong now," Elena said.

"I still remember when you three were in diapers together," Michael said.

Elena and Caroline smiled at each other. Michael was okay with Caroline.

"Do you really wanna talk just me and you?" Bonnie asked her dad, making her presence known.

"Oh, Dad's actually got a choice in the matter now?" Michael asked with a grin.

"Okay, let's get the hell out of here everyone. Bon-Bon's bitchy moment with Daddy's over, they need some quality bonding time now," Damon said with a smirk.

"Can you ever say anything without sarcasm or rudeness in there somewhere?" Caroline asked Damon.

"I _can _ But it doesn't happen too often," he said with a grin.

Elena came to give Bonnie a hug before leaving. "Unless you want the rest of the day alone with your dad, Me and C are gonna come back later, okay?" she whispered.

"He's not even gonna be here the rest of the day, Elena," Bonnie whispered with a sad laugh. "I guarantee it."

It was just a whisper, but Damon heard Bonnie's words. She had laughed, but it was easy to tell that there was disappointment in her voice.

"And even if something really weird happens and he does stick around, I want you guys here with me anyway," Bonnie said.

Caroline blew a kiss to Bonnie and Bonnie smiled in response. "I'll see you in a few hours."

Stefan pulled Bonnie in for a hug and whispered. "I'm really sorry about Lucy."

"Thanks," she whispered. "And don't worry. I've got a plan. We're still on track Stefan."

"Your cousin just died. Don't worry about any of that stuff right now. The only thing you need to do is take care of yourself," he told her.

Matt gave Bonnie's handa squeeze before heading out the door.

Bonnie saw her dad approach Stefan and Damon. "Be nice," she warned.

After Bonne called out to her dad, Jeremy pulled her into the corner.

"Thanks for coming," she said.

"Of course I came. I wanted to make sure you were okay. I'm sorry about your cousin. If you need anything, just let me know, okay?"

Bonnie could tell that he wanted to hug her, but he was keeping his distance because he wasn't sure if she was still freaked out about what had happened between them.

She reached out to hug him, and as soon as she did that Jeremy pulled her close. "Thank you," she whispered. "I'm sorry about before. I know I freaked out on you- but trust me, it was all me. You didn't do anything wrong. I wasn't mad at you."

"Aside from it happening so fast, do you regret sleeping with me?"

"No," she said, shaking her head.

"Good."

She gave him a quick kiss before pushing him towards the door.

"Bon-Bon," Damon said.

"Yeah?"

"You clearly didn't listen to me an hour ago, but seriously, you really should rest."

"Wow, a sentence without snark or sarcasm. Good job Damon," Caroline said with a grin.

"You didn't let me finish, Blondie. I was telling her to get some rest cuz she's gonna get bags under her eyes."

Elena smacked his arm while Caroline, Jeremy and Stefan rolled their eyes.

When they had all walked away from the house Bonnie and her father walked back inside and shut the door.

"Okay dad, time to tell me everything," Bonnie said.

o-o-o-o-o-o-

Matt had headed off on his own because he was too nervous to talk to Caroline right now, and he was still trying to wrap his mind around everything he had just learned.

He was so completely absorbed in his thoughts that he didn't notice that Caroline was next to him until she touched his arm.

"Hi," she said.

"Hi," he said awkwardly.

"I need you to talk to me, please," she said. "I need to know what you're feeling. Just tell me- whatever it is."

"Were you ever gonna tell me?" he asked her quietly.

"I've been thinking about it a lot," she told him. "I thought about it from when I first became like this, but I was too scared of what you would think. Then I threw the idea of telling you out the window completely because I got really worried that I'd mess up and hurt you somehow so I started to act like a bitch to try to push you away. I was scared that I might not be able to control myself around you. I didn't want to let you go, but I did, though. It hurt like hell, but I did what I needed to to get you to break up with me."

"You kept acting crazy and jealous on purpose."

"Yeah," she said.

"Why were you worried about hurting me if you're supposed to be good?" Matt asked her. "Ty and Bonnie said you're good."

"Tyler told you I was a you-know?"

"No. But when he called me to tell me that he didn't know if he was ever coming back here, he kind of explained some stuff to me."

"What kind of stuff?" Caroline asked.

"Me and Ty haven't really been great in awhile- you know that but I had fought with him a couple times recently."

"Why?" she asked.

"You," Matt said simply.

"Oh."

"Yeah... He explained that you guys got close, that you had helped him through the hardest thing in his life- something that he couldn't talk to anyone else about. He said you were like his angel. He told me that he fell for you big time and that he messed up really bad. He said he let you down. He said that he had failed you when you had finally needed him. He kinda just went on rambling for awhile about how he messed everything up, how he wanted you and how sorry he was. He told me not to say anything to you about that conversation... He said he fell for you, but that you still loved me- that you still wanted me. He said that you were different but that it didn't matter because you loved me and that you were a good person. He said you were tough- that you could handle a lot but that sometimes you could break a little and that I needed to be extra good to you- as good as you were to him. I don't know what happened with you guys. All I know is that he let you down when you needed him and that he was sorry as hell about it. He knew you loved me- he said I was what you needed. He told me to make sure I didn't screw up with you."

Caroline tried to keep her expression from changing too much.

"Is Tyler like you- is that what you helped him with?" Matt asked her.

"No, he's not like me like that, but he's different too and I helped him deal with his own thing... What you asked me before- about why I'd be worried about hurting you if I was good- my emotions kind of all mixed together and got really intensified when I was brand new- like love and lust and umm.. thirst," Caroline said awkwardly.

"Is it all still mixed together like that?" Matt asked carefully.

"I've got things under control now," Caroline said.

"Umm, can we talk some more tomorrow?"

"Sure, she said, nodding her head.

"It's just-"

"A lot for one day. I know," Caroline said, finishing his sentence.

"Yeah," Matt said.

"Give me a call when you want to talk," Caroline said, heading back to Elena, Stefan, Jeremy and Damon.

"Care," Matt called out.

"Yeah?"

"I'm not gonna tell. Don't worry about that, okay?" Matt said.

"Thanks," she said.

She walked a few steps and then she couldn't hold it in anymore. She started to cry. Why did Matt have to tell her about Tyler, why?


	15. Chapter 15

o-0-o-0-o Here's the new chapter. Thanks for the reviews last chapter. Hope you like this. Leave me and review and tell me what you think. o-0-o-0-o

"_For the last time, where the hell is she, Damon?" Stefan yelled._

"_She's dead. Knowing where she is isn't going to change that," Damon said._

"_I know she's dead you bastard, you killed her two days ago!" Stefan yelled, throwing what he was holding straight at Damon. Stefan glared at his brother and if looks could kill, Damon would be dead- well really, really dead._

_Stefan was gearing up for an attack on Damon when his brother finally told him what he wanted to hear. The location of where he had buried Lexi._

Stefan recalled the memory of Damon telling him where Lexi was buried and the first time he had went to the spot- the spot he was heading to right now.

He had this overwhelming urge to visit her after learning that Lucy had died.

"Don't follow me. You're not coming where I'm going. You don't belong there," Stefan said. He knew Damon was behind him.

"And why is that little brother? I'm bored."

"Go be bored somewhere else. You're not coming with me to where I'm going.'

"Why the hell not?" Damon asked, having fun annoying his brother.

"We're not hating each other's guts anymore. Let's keep it that way. This is something that I can't have you around for. I'm only gonna get pissed off if you're there."

"Fine, Mr. Hissy-fit," Damon said. "I'll go harass Barbie or Bon-Bon."

"Bonnie's with her dad, did you forget?" Stefan reminded him.

"I heard the little witch whisper to Elena that she was pretty sure daddy wouldn't be sticking around for long. So he should be gone soon and you know Judgey isn't actually going to relax so I might as well go bother her. It's usually quite fun."

"It's good that you guys are getting along," Stefan said as he headed in his own direction.

Damon being Damon, waited a few minutes and then followed Stefan's trail. He wanted to see what his brother was up to.

When he found where Stefan went, he understood why he didn't want Damon anywhere near him right now- he was going to visit Lexi. Stefan was right, he didn't belong there. He had killed her. He killed Stefan's best friend.

The second he killed her, he didn't care, but since then and especially right now- he felt like absolute crap about it.

o-o-o-o-o-

"You still haven't answered me. Since when have you been a warlock? And why the hell did you make your mother sound like she was crazy for believing in all this magic stuff?"

"I don't know what you want me to say Bonnie."

"I want you to tell me the truth," she said.

"I don't call myself a warlock, Bonnie- I haven't used magic in over 20 years. I haven't wanted to. I've never wanted this. I just wanted to be normal. I fought against the power I knew I was getting. I didn't want it. I literally battled with myself for years and you know what, one day I didn't have to fight anymore because it was gone... Your grandmother called magic a gift- well it was a gift I didn't want, and I guess when it was clear how much I didn't want it- it was a gift that stopped giving."

"You lost your powers?"

"I did, and I was thrilled. I wasn't meant for the supernatural."

"Were they really gone? I don't really think that's possible," Bonnie said.

"They were gone, little girl," he said. "When your Grams passed away, I felt like complete and utter garbage for never telling her that I knew she wasn't crazy- that yes I _was _like her, but that I just never wanted that for my own life. She never said it out loud but I knew it made her sad to think her magic gene or whatever you want to call it didn't get passed to her son... I was feeling horrible about that stuff. Even though I wasn't always the nicest- I loved my mother, Bonnie. I was a crappy son. She was a good mother to me- she raised me on her own. She made sure I had whatever I needed and she always loved me, even when I didn't deserve that love."

Bonnie just stared at her dad and listened intently.

"I have no illusions about why you've turned out so well. It has nothing to do with me. Let's be honest, I didn't raise you- my mother did. I'm not good at this dad thing, baby- I know that. But, I do love you. And even if I didn't love my mother for all that she did for me- just for what she's done for you, _my _daughter, her dying would was going to hurt like hell. When she died I felt lost, Bonnie. I felt horrible and I felt lost and I wanted to talk to my mother more than anything in the world. I wanted to say thanks and I wanted to say sorry. Then I decided that I would try to do something-"

"You tried to use magic to get in contact with her," Bonnie said.

"That's what I wanted to do, but I couldn't. It's not even that I couldn't do that particular thing. I couldn't do anything. It was magic's big 'Screw You' to me. I wanted it gone and it went away- it had been gone for so long."

"Then what the hell happened tonight?" Bonnie asked.

"When I was talking to Lucy and she said she was being followed, I got scared for her. I got this really bad feeling and I just wanted to get to her as fast as I could to make sure everything was okay, especially when she said she was coming to see you- I started to get worried about you and then all of a sudden I felt this rush of energy go through me and I remembered that feeling. I felt it when I was a teenager. I felt the magic in me. And for the first time ever, I was really happy about it... I hurried to get to Lucy, but I was too late. When I heard that man say that he was coming after you- I can't even describe it. The energy rushing through me was something unlike anything I'd felt before. It was like this burst of magic multiplied by a million. I had to make sure you were okay, make sure he couldn't hurt you- and I did. And it's gone again. It's all very weird. It doesn't make sense."

"Actually, I think it does, Daddy," Bonnie said.

"How?"

"You said it yourself. You never wanted the magic you had. You wanted it gone. You were ungrateful for the gift you had. You gave up your rights to it years ago. As to why it worked this time and not after Grams died, it's probably because you weren't being selfish this time. I know that sounds bad, I don't mean it to but-"

"No, keep going. Explain the theory."

"Needing to talk to Grams- wanting to thank her and apologize, yes, it would have been something good you wanted to say to her- but it was about you. I guess there was sort of a selfishness involved, you know. _You _needed her to hear those things from you because you felt like a bad son. It was a lot about you... But this time you were just scared for us, especially me. You needed to make sure I was safe and it wasn't because you were trying to make yourself feel better or to make some wrong right... I don't think your magic's gone. I don't believe that's possible, but I think that you're not allowed to use it because of how badly you didn't want it or appreciate it-because you fought to get rid of it. But tonight it wasn't about you and I think that's why the magic came rushing back."

"Who knows, you could be right. All I know is that I can't do anything. I tried on my way here. I tried to stop the bleeding, I tried a bunch of things. Nothing worked. And it's okay, because it was there when I needed it, but I'm happy it's gone again. It was never good for me. It's just not for me."

"Even though you're not a fan, I'm _proud_ of what I am, what my grandmother was, thank you very much," Bonnie said angrily.

"Oh, no no no. Don't get me wrong. I _am _proud of you. You've handled it all so well. It's good for you. It just wasn't for me, baby."

"Why did you lie and say it was all a joke, that magic wasn't real?"

"I didn't want it for you. I'm looking at you know and I'm proud, but I never wanted this for you. I always equated the feeling that magic wasn't right for me with magic not being right for my kid either. I thought if I discouraged you, your powers would just go away like mine had and you could have a completely normal life."

"Normal's overrated," Bonnie said. "What about mom? Was she a witch?" Bonnie asked.

"No. Your magic comes from the Bennett's. Your mom was just a regular woman"

"A regular woman who couldn't stick around," Bonnie mumbled.

"You got the short straw in the parents department," Michael said quietly. "You really did, and I'm sorry for that."

Bonnie let out a sad laugh.

"But you know what, my little girl?"

"What?" Bonnie asked, turning her head away to blink away the tears that were forming.

"I don't feel too bad for you. You did fine. You turned out perfectly fine without us. You've had a lot of love in your life and you still do. You had my mother and you had your friends. You _still_ have those friends, especially Caroline and Elena. I'm fully aware that those girls are more family to you than I've ever been. And you've got Matt and Jeremy and even those two brothers. I've always left you in good hands- hands that loved you properly: my mother and Elena and Caroline."

"Yeah, you did leave me in good hands," she said quietly.

"I love you. I know I don't say it enough, but I _do _love you. I've never been cut out for this dad stuff. I don't know how to do it properly. I never did- but I don't regret you. I've _never _regretted you coming into this world."

"Why are you telling me this now? I'm all grown up now- it would have been better when I was younger."

"I'm telling you this now because you need to hear it _at least_ once, all grown up or not. There was a chance that I could have lost you, and even though I can't do the dad thing properly, the thought of something happening to you was the scariest thing in the world. You deserve better, but I need you to know that you are _precious _to me. I love you very much," he said, his eyes getting glossy.

"Don't cry, daddy," Bonnie said gently, giving her father a hug.

o-o-o-o-o-o

"When was the last time you came here?" Elena asked her brother as she took hold of his hand.

"Couple months," he said.

"Yeah, same here... You know, with the exception of the funeral, we've never come here together," Elena said.

"I know, which is really stupid," Jeremy said, wiping the snow off their parent's headstones.

"It feels just like yesterday-" Elena started.

"I know. I wonder if it's always gonna be like that," Jeremy said.

"So who's first, me or you?" Elena asked.

"We're gonna take turns talking to them?" Jeremy asked, smiling.

"Yeah- we can show them we're all mature now," Elena grinned, taking a seat in the snow.

Jeremy laughed.

"Come on, sit down," Elena said.

"Nah, I'm good up here. I'd like my ass to stay warm and dry," he chuckled.

"Too bad," Elena laughed, pulling her brother down next to her.

"Mom, Dad. Elena's being mean to me," Jeremy said with a grin, elbowing Elena playfully.

Elena rubbed some snow in Jeremy's face and then he grabbed her arm scooting her closer to him so he could do the same.

She allowed him his revenge and let it be, just giving him a hug instead.

"Still miss you like crazy, still wish you were here, but we're doing better. You don't need to worry about us so much," Elena said, talking first. "There's been craziness, but we've got some happiness. Good things have happened," Elena continued as she put her head on Jeremy's shoulder.

o-o-o-o-o-o-

"Bonnie's cousin died. The cousin who was going to help her develop more. The cousin who would teach her and guide her. _You _taught me. _You _guided me. You made me who I am today and I don't think I ever said that to you...I miss you, Lexi. I wish you were here. I could tell you everything that's going on. You could help clear my head... I'm sorry I haven't been here recently... Sometimes I wish I never met you, if I hadn't, you'd still be around. If I had never met you, you wouldn't have come to visit me for my birthday- you'd still be fine. I know that you know I loved you like crazy, but I didn't say it enough, so I'm telling you now- I was lucky to have you in my life. I'm who I am now because of you. Because of you, I'm not a monster... You were my best friend. You're always gonna be my best friend. I wish you were still here and I'm more sorry than I can ever say that you're gone. I am _so _sorry," Stefan said, wiping his eyes.

"We're going to see each other again some day, and when we do, you can bust my chops for crying right now," Stefan said, laughing to himself. "I couldn't have asked for a better friend than you. I love you, Lexi," he said before turning around and heading back home.

Damon sped off, not wanting to be seen by Stefan.

The bad feelings that Damon had for Stefan, in most cases, he could justify them somehow. But Stefan had never done anything outright cruel to Damon, never. Deep down, Damon almost always knew that his little brother still loved him in some way. Damon didn't think Stefan had felt that, had that knowledge somewhere in the back of his mind since 1864, because Damon spent virtually every second that he had seen his brother since then, with the exception of the past 10 months, to remind him of how he hated him of how he would make him suffer.

The truth was, he _never _would have let anything happen to Stefan if someone else was going after him, He wouldn't have let anyone else hurt him, even if he himself did so, even if he did make Stefan suffer.

And Damon _had _made him suffer, and for what? Because Katherine hadn't only wanted him, but because she wanted Stefan too? Because there was no one left and Stefan hadn't wanted to lose his brother?

Killing Lexi, killing his brother's best friend, the woman who helped his brother and stopped him from being a killing machine, who'd probably been one of the very few good things in Stefan's life for a very long time- wasn't something to be forgiven yet Stefan still tried with him. Stefan loved him, even if he had a lot of anger inside.

It honestly never dawned on Damon how hard it must be to be around him. Damon killed Stefan's best friend.

Damon would not apologize to Stefan, but for the first time in a long time- he really wanted to.

o-o-o-o-o-o

Caroline wished that Matt didn't tell her about what Tyler had said. She wanted to hate Tyler. She just wanted to completely hate him. Hating him was easy to deal with. Hating him and thinking about maybe forgiving him- she couldn't deal with that.

She tried to push Tyler out of her head because all it did was make her sad and confused and give her a headache.

She really hoped that Matt was going to come around. She still loved him and she wanted so badly for him to still love her back. She knew he was in shock so she was going to be patient, but she was scared that he would never look at her the same way again.

o-o-o-o-o-o-

"Your little witch friend- Lucy, she's dead," Elijah said, walking into the tomb.

"What happened?" Katherine asked.

"My warlock associate killed her."

"Why?" she asked.

"I think he lost his mind actually," Elijah said with a bit of a laugh. "I think he was worried that Bonnie would try to team up with another witch to mess things up- stupid man. Little Bonnie trusts me completely- he ended up getting himself killed for nothing."

"He's dead?" Katherine asked, a feeling of happiness coming over her.

Yes, she had wanted payback on Lucy for basically being the reason she was locked up in here, but Katherine could admit it to herself that she couldn't really blame Lucy for trying to punish her. Even if the woman was alive, they would never be friends again, but Katherine was happy to hear that the man who killed her had met the same fate. She was actually sorry to hear Lucy was dead.

"Bonnie's father killed him," Elijah said, amused.

"How the hell did Bonnie's dad kill your warlock? Bonnie's father isn't a warlock. He has no magic."

"Luka, the son, told me Bonnie's father shot Jonas Martin. He didn't see it coming."

"Your big bad warlock's dead. You're not going to be able to do the sacrifice," Katherine grinned, just trying to get more information out of him.

"His son is capable of doing what I need to get done, but I am going to tell Bonnie that he is dead. That I killed him for knowing what his father planned. I will get the witch to trust me even more," Elijah laughed. "Your stupid, trusting, descendant and her loved ones and yourself, beautiful Katerina, are all going to meet your deaths soon enough. There is no change of plan... And now, you beautiful, deceitful, wretched creature- time to forget this conversation."

"Why are you here, Elijah?" Katherine said, acting as if she just forgot.

Elijah just grinned and walked away.

"You stupid, stupid bastard. Your little warlock isn't going to help you with anything- I'd put money on it." Katherine said in a gleeful whisper.

_Little Luka's screwing around with Elijah. There's no way Bonnie's dad went after Jonas with a gun, his powers must have flared up again after all these years. Why the hell were Luka and Jonas ever working with Elijah anyway? Luka's gotta have a thing for Bonnie to cover for her dad like that, after he killed his father. I want to know everything. I'm seriously curious right now..._

o-o-o-o-o-o-

Bonnie looked down at the ringing phone and didn't recognize the number. She was going to ignore the call, but finally decided to pick it up.

"Hello."

"Bonnie. _Please _don't hang up. This is Luka. I need to talk to you. It's _really _important."


	16. Chapter 16

o-0-o-0-o Here's the new chapter. Thanks to those who reviewed the last chapter. Hope you like this new one. Leave me a review and let me know what you think o-0-o-0-o

"You cannot tell Elijah that I'm calling you- ever, or else we're both dead. If for some reason you speak to him before I speak to you next, what he's going to tell you is not true. I need to talk to you. I really need to talk to you, but I'm afraid someone could be listening. Please, I'm going to give you a phone number- and I want you to call it in exactly fifteen minutes, okay? I promise you, I'm not playing a game. Fifteen minutes from now call this number..."

After Bonnie hung up the phone she checked the time and made note of it before having a bit of a freak out. She was happy her dad had just left. She didn't want to freak out in front of him.

Did Luka know that his father was dead? Did Luka want revenge? She really hoped this wasn't all another problem just waiting to explode because she couldn't take it right now.

She tried to push Luka out of her mind for a little while until she had to call him.

When she pushed him out of her mind, however, it's not like things got any better. Lucy was still dead and her father had still left. She didn't really want him to stay- she hadn't wanted him to stay at all in fact. The truth was, she was comfortable having the house to herself all the time and she wouldn't be able to have a parent checking in on her every action. She really meant it that she didn't want him to stay, but oh God, she wanted _him _to want to stay.

She believed him when he said he loved her. He was right, he didn't know how to do the dad thing, but it would have been nice for him to want to stay with her a little longer, even if it was only til the next day. In the end, though, she would have had him leave today anyway, but she just wanted him to want to stay even is she didn't actually want him there.

As soon as he knew (or thought he knew, because he had no idea about the big stuff that was going to go down in Mystic Falls) that she wasn't in any more danger he left. He said he loved her, but it was really hard to remember that sometimes. Lucy had died and he didn't even bother to ask how Bonnie was feeling about that.

Bonnie sank to the ground and tucked her head in her legs. "At least he came to town to save your life," she muttered to herself. "That counts for something," she said to herself, starting to laugh pathetically.

She started to get up again but nearly fell back down in shock when she saw Damon standing in front of her.

He grabbed her arm before she fell.

"What are you doing here?" she asked him, back on her feet.

"It _does _count for something, you know," he said.

_Oh lovely, he heard that, didn't he?_

"Whatever, I don't actually care. I was just mumbling... Why are you here?" she asked again.

"I was bored and I knew you'd still be up and about, not taking my advice. Came to bug you."

"You've been invited in Damon, but that doesn't mean you can come in here whenever you want," Bonnie said, trying to sound serious. The truth was she kind of wanted to laugh. For some reason Damon being bored was funny.

"That's _exactly _what it means Bon-Bon," Damon said with a grin.

"I'm sure I can find a way to rescind the invitation," she told him.

"And waste your power, when you're trying to get stronger? Probably not a good idea, for a couple reasons."

"And what are those reasons?" she asked, hand on her hip.

It was fun annoying her, it really was. Damon laughed. "First off, how am I supposed to protect you and rush in here to save you if something's wrong?"

"Excuse me?" Bonnie said, making a face.

"Your dad said that he trusted your judgement. If you trusted us then so would he. He told us to make sure nothing happened to you," Damon grinned.

Bonnie burst into laughter. "Wow," she said when she finally stopped laughing, "He went from 'Oh my God- you're evil vampires' to 'hey protect my kid while I run off to work again.' Wow... I don't need _anyone _to protect me. What's the second reason?"

"You asked me for help little witch, did you forget that?" Damon smirked.

"Okay, I guess I can't rescind the invitation- _that's _ actually a valid point," Bonnie muttered.

"You need to tell me more about this help I'm supposed to give you."

"I will, but can we do that later? You were actually right, before. I really should get some rest before Care and Elena come over. I'm not exactly feeling great right now," Bonnie said, wanting to get him out of the house

"Ooooh, I was right- I like that," Damon grinned.

"Oh shut up," Bonnie said tiredly.

"I'll see you later witchy. Sweet dreams Bon-Bon- how could you have anything but sweet dreams after seeing me?" he said smirking.

"Get over yourself Salvatore," Bonnie laughed, pushing Damon towards the door.

"Okay, okay. I'm going. No need to get violent, woman. Don't be so mean," Damon said in a childish voice.

"Bye Damon," Bonnie chuckled, locking the door.

"Bye Judgey."

Bonnie locked the door and checked the time. There was still eight minutes.

Her cell phone rang. It was Stefan.

"Hi Bonnie."

"Hey Stefan."

"I don't want to bother you with any of this stuff right now, but I just want you to know what I know. So just listen to what I tell you and then go back to not thinking about this stuff for awhile. You deserve a break, especially now. It's going to happen in 4 and a half months. Do you understand what I'm saying?"

"The big party. The party to end all parties," Bonnie said, knowing exactly what he meant.

Stefan chuckled. "Yep. Exactly. I'm talking about the big party."

"Okay, well, that's good to know. Something concrete to work with... Could you do me a favour, actually? Could you come see me in about 45 minutes? There's some things I'll be wanting to tell you. Don't tell Damon though, he thinks I'm going to take a nap or something and I'm gonna tell Elena and Caroline to come around 5, so that'll give you and me some time to talk."

"Okay, I'll see you in a bit then," Stefan said.

Bonnie shut the phone and headed upstairs to her room. She kept checking the time. She needed to know what the hell was going on.

She stared at the clock until the fifteen minutes was up. She quickly dialled the number, eager for information.

"Hello," Luka said.

"Start talking," she told him.

o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-

"Should we order in later at Bonnie's or should we attempt making food ourselves?" Caroline asked Elena.

"I want to say order in, but I think we should go the make it ourselves route. It could be fun. And if we totally screw everything up, we can order in," Elena said.

"Oooohh I know what we're gonna make- Bonnie loved it the last time-" Caroline started.

"We all loved it the last time," Elena laughed, knowing what Caroline was thinking. "It's easy and I don't think even we can screw it up. All we do is put a bunch of stuff together."

"I'm actually craving it, that's crazy," Caroline laughed. "I'm actually craving _food_ food. That's gotta tell you that it was delicious."

"Do you remember how Jeremy looked at us like we were nuts when he saw us eating it?" Elena laughed.

"Well, I don't really blame him. It looked funny," Caroline said. "We folded up a pizza with

French fries, hamburgers, chicken and vegetables inside. The thing was bigger than our faces."

"Okay, no more talking about it," Elena laughed, "Let's go buy the stuff so we can make it that much quicker."

"Whatchya giggling about? What are you going to buy?" Damon asked, popping out of nowhere.

"We're just talking about yummy food. We're gonna go get some stuff and then make some food and bring it to Bonnie's when we go," Elena said.

"You two are going to attempt to cook?" Damon asked, amused. "I think I'm gonna tag along to watch the screw-up unfold."

"We're not that bad," Caroline said.

"We're not going to screw it up. You can't screw up a screw up," Elena said. "The deliciousness of what we're going to make came out of a screw up," Elena told Damon.

"Do tell, I'm bored," Damon replied.

"Walk and talk," Caroline said.

"I think it was a couple years ago. My parents had a barbeque and Bonnie and Care were over. There was a bunch of different things to eat. There was pizza being made. There were hamburgers, hot dogs, fries, vegetables- lots of stuff. Me and Caroline and Bonnie were set on pizza which my mom had set out with the sauce and cheese. Everyone else wanted the other stuff so we had three pizzas to ourselves," Elena laughed.

"Anyway, all we had to do was put the pizza in the oven, but before we did that, we tried to be helpful," Caroline said.

"We left the pizzas on the counter so we could go help bring in the food from outside," Elena continued.

"They made food for like 25 people, no joke," Caroline said. "And it was only Elena's parents, Jenna, Jeremy and Elena, B and me."

"There were several bowls filled with the same food so we each took some of the same things to bring inside. I think we were holding three bowls each, right Care?"

"Yeah. We each had three bowls. All of us had one with some hamburgers and barbequed chicken breast pieces, and one with a bunch of veggies and one with fries," Caroline said.

"I don't know what the hell happened or what we slipped on. We must have slipped on something because the bowls we were all holding went flying and all of the food landed on top of the pizzas full of sauce and cheese," Elena explained as they turned the corner.

"We didn't want to get made fun of for being a bunch of klutzes. Her parents and Jenna were coming back inside so we all sort of folded up the pizzas with everything that had fallen on top of it inside and threw them in the oven before they could laugh," Caroline said.

"It looked horrible, but it was so delicious," Elena said.

Damon laughed. "I'm picturing it right now. I can just see you all slipping and sliding and food flying... I still think you're going to screw up your screw up."

"Well since we're so incompetent, you're just going to have to help us then, aren't you?" Elena said with a grin.

"Nope. I'm just going to observe."

"Oh no no no. You don't get to laugh at us and tell us we're going to screw up without showing us how it all should really be done since you're apparently so awesome," Caroline said.

"I really should learn to keep my mouth shut sometimes," Damon muttered.

Elena and Caroline just laughed.

"Bonnie would have loved to hear you say that," Stefan said to Damon, popping up next to Elena. She gave him a smile and took hold of his hand.

"Damon, wanna say it again so I can record it for Bonnie?" Caroline teased.

"How about no?" Damon said, and Elena elbowed him gently.

"Where are you guys headed?" Stefan asked.

"Grocery store," Elena said. "We're gonna make yummy things and bring them with us to Bonnie's later. We're making Damon help us make it since he thinks we're going to screw it up. You wanna join in on the kitchen fun?"

Stefan laughed. "It actually sounds potentially fun, but I can't. I've got something to do for school. But I'll tag along to the store."

"You suck, Stefan," Damon said.

"It's not my fault you're dumb enough to tell these two that they can't do something or that they're going to screw it up. You should know by now they always get the last laugh," Stefan chuckled.

"See, Stefan's smart. He knows how it is," Caroline grinned.

o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o

"_Katherine. It's you!"_

"_Yes Emily, it's me," Katherine said with a grin._

"_I had wondered what you were up to, if you were alright," Emily said._

"_I've been on the run- but I'm fine. I'm good at making myself un-findable. How have you been? I see that you have had your babies," Katherine said, staring down at the two babies in Emily's arms._

"_I'm struggling and nervous, but for now, everything is alright. My babies are three months old now. I am more fearful with every passing day about something happening to them. I will be found out soon, Katherine. They're searching for me."_

"_Because of me?" Katherine asked._

"_Partly, yes. After they thought they had you all in that tomb, the Lockwoods and the Fells approached me and interrogated me. I of course told them that I knew not what you were and that I only did as I was told, but word started to go around that I may be associated with witchcraft, so even if they believed that I knew nothing about you being a vampire- which they did not, they would have come after me for being what I am. I left town quickly after the interrogations. I knew I would meet a similar fate as the vampires eventually, and I could not let that happen. I had unborn children to think about. I have been moving from place to place for the past eight months never knowing when the worst will happen. Of course, I do not want to die, but my ultimate and only real concern is for my children. I only want to make sure that they do not meet the fate that I know _I _will. In every town we have passed through I hear the whispers about finding and gathering the witches and how to rid the world of us. When they catch me, and I _know _they will, I will fight of course, but I think I will be overcome. My only worry is that my babies will be with me when this happens- and I _cannot _have that. My children will not die without ever having got to really live. I will not allow it."_

"_I would not offer this to anyone else really, simply because I do not have it in me to care, but the affection you have for me, I have for you also- you have been a friend to me, truly- and that is beyond rare for me.__Is there a way that I can help you?" Katherine asked._

_Emily smiled. "Thank you," she said. "I do not wish to keep you here longer than you intended to be, which I know without you telling me, is not long. I do not wish to burden you. I know that you are on the run yourself- that is why you wanted it to seem like you had also perished inside that church. I know you fear for your existence, and the threat must be very real because I have never known you to fear anything. Whatever you are running from is major because even as all of Mystic Falls thinks you are dead you are still running and almost hiding. I know you need to leave soon. You need to make it like you don't exist by staying nowhere for very long. I wish not to burden you because I do not want anything to happen to you because of m,e but I also fear that what you are running from may catch up with my children and I."_

"_I could stay for awhile if you need me to. I'm very good at staying hidden. I could help you get to a place that is safe for you. It would not take very long," Katherine said._

_Emily smiled again. "I have made arrangements for my children and for safety for the three of us. At this point it is a matter of getting to the right place at the right time. Your little Damon Salvatore is actually helping me," Emily said._

"_Damon transitioned then and he is well- that is good, what of Stefan? He transitioned also, correct? He must have, I would have known somehow if he truly left this world," Katherine said._

"_Stefan transitioned also," Emily confirmed._

"_I came to see if he was around these parts- just to get a look for myself to see that he is well," Katherine said, smiling with relief._

"_I am not very proud of how I went about things with Damon, but my children are my priority," Emily said._

"_What sort of arrangement do you have with Damon?" Katherine asked._

"_When the founding families were rounding all the vampires up Damon came to me and asked me to help you somehow. Of course he had no idea that you were going to be fine... I promised him that I would make sure you would be alright as long as he would protect my children- protect my bloodline."_

"_I'm glad he's helping."_

"_He will meet me tomorrow. He knows someone who will be of assistance. You have offered me help- I will ask two things of you, Katherine, before you go on your way. Would you take my babies ahead to the location we are to go to, while I gather up what I need from here?"_

"_I can do that and come back for you too," Katherine answered. "What is the second thing?"_

"_You will exist long after I am gone from this world. Damon has promised to protect my line- I know that you will live like a nomad, but from time to time when you come back this way to visit as I know you will- would you check in on my family, look out for them- my children and theirs and theirs and so on, just to make sure all is well?"_

"_I can do that for you also," Katherine said._

"_Thank you, truly," Emily said, picking up her babies, kissing them and gently handing them to Katherine._

_Emily told Katherine where to bring the children and before Katherine could dash off to bring them there Emily said one more thing._

"_I will ask of you a third thing," Emily said._

"_And what is that?" Katherine asked._

"_You have been my friend. You have shown me caring and kindness. You have it in you to care, I've seen it in you also with the Salvatore brothers. You cared for those boys, both of them, and you even truly loved Stefan- I know you did... I want you to remember these things and I want you to carry them with you always. When you are feeling your worst, when you hate everyone around you- I want you to remember those things. I do not want you to lose yourself back into the woman who did not care for others and who did not believe that others could truly care for her."_

_Katherine grinned. "Trying to save my soul, Emily?"_

_Emily just smiled._

"_I will be back for you shortly," Katherine said, and with that she was gone._

_At that very moment Emily fell to the ground. She could keep the spell up no longer. It had taken far too much energy up. It had drained her, but it was all worth it- her children would be safe._

_As soon as she fell, the mob of townspeople were unfrozen and could be seen again and they were charging at her._

_Just before Katherine had arrived, she saw the mob heading her way. She had used her magic- very strong magic, to freeze them all on the spot. When she saw Katherine approaching she made the mob invisible. She did not want Katherine to try to take on the mob- she needed to keep a low profile and make her exit soon. Emily did not want any harm to come to Katherine._

_It was lucky that Katherine had arrived because Emily knew she wouldn't have been able to run with the children while keeping the spell up._

_Emily knew that she was soon going to die at the hands of the people charging at her. There was some fear in her, but even though this was true, all she could do was smile. Her children were safe and they would be protected and she still had hope in her yet for Katherine._

_Emily used the last bit of her magic and strength to project all of this- the scene of the townspeople clamouring to get her and her very own thoughts and smile. She sent this to Katherine so she would know what had happened._

Katherine had felt a sadness of her own when she heard Lucy was dead, because at one point, she had been friends with the woman. Yes, Katherine had used her at times, but it was never in a way that would harm her... Katherine felt bad about Lucy just for Lucy, but when Katherine finally let herself think about Emily and Lucy in the same thought, she felt even worse.

Lucy was one of Emily's, who Katherine said she would look out for – yet Lucy was now dead. Did Katherine feel guilty right now? Yes she did, extremely guilty.

o-o-o-o-o-o-o

Bonnie walked to open the door for Stefan, trying to process everything that Luka had just told her.

"Hey," Stefan said.

"Hi," she answered quietly. "I just had a very interesting conversation."

"Do tell," Stefan said just as there was another knock on the door.

He looked out and saw Elijah. He mouthed this to Bonnie who put on her best acting face as she opened the door.

"Elijah," Bonnie said, stepping outside, Stefan at her side. She sure as hell wasn't inviting Elijah in.

"I've come to offer you my condolences and give you some news that I hope will make you feel somewhat better, Bonnie," he said. "I'm sorry to hear that your cousin was killed and I am even more sorry that Jonas Martin wanted to do the same to you. I thought he was a good man- I thought he and his son were good. I am so very sorry that I misjudged those people. I promise you that you will never have to deal with either of them again. I know that your father took a gun and killed Jonas in his fear of what Jonas would do to you. I believe any parent would do that for their child. He rid the earth of Jonas and for you, I rid the Earth of Luka, too. No harm will be able to come to you now. Those who want you dead are dead themselves. I promised to protect Elena's loved ones and I take that very seriously."

Bonnie felt like she was going to throw up, but she had an act to put on.

"Thank you so much for coming to see me Elijah. Thank you for looking out for me," she said, reaching out to give him a hug. "I knew I could trust you."

"You take care of yourself now Bonnie and don't worry about anything. Once again, I'm sorry for your loss," Elijah said, heading off.

Bonnie and Stefan went back inside and Bonnie immediately locked the door and headed for the sink. She began scrubbing at her hands, hating having even touched him.

"Turn around for a minute," she said. She took off the sweater she was wearing and threw it onto the floor, quickly throwing a different shirt on.

"What's going on?" Stefan asked.

"With the shirt? Well I don't want to be wearing anything that has touched him, and also, I'm going to use it to do a spell so that we know when he's around. The rest, the big stuff- I don't even know where to start with that."

"How about with Luka being dead," Stefan suggested.

"Well, a really quick run-down before we go into big deatils, he isn't dead at all. Elijah didn't kill him. Elijah needs him to remove the Sun/Moon curse. Luka's playing like he's going to help Elijah but he wants him dead now, oh and apparently Luka's got a thing for me. His exact words were 'it's a lot more than like, Bonnie.' He just had to add that in there."

"Wow," Stefan said.

"Okay, now here's the long, detailed version," Bonnie said, starting on the story.

o-o-o-o-o-o

"Jeremy," Matt said, catching up to him.

"Hey," Jeremy said as he opened the door to his house.

"What really happened to my sister? I know Caroline wasn't involved." Matt said. "How did she really die?" he asked.

Matt didn't think that anyone was home, but he saw Elena, Damon and Caroline all inside.

Jeremy exchanged glances with his sister that were silently screaming 'What am I supposed to say?'

Damon spoke up quickly. "Your sister got turned into a vampire. She was out of control and she was going to kill someone. To protect the person she was going to kill, she got killed instead."

"Who turned her, who killed her?" Matt asked, anger rising. "Was it you and your brother?" He asked, not taking his eyes off of Damon.


	17. Chapter 17

o-0-o-0-o Here's the new chapter. Thanks for the reviews on Chapter 16. Let me know what you think of this chapter. Leave me a review They make me very happy lol. Enjoy! o-0-o-0-o

Elena was going to speak up, to try to take the heat away from Stefan and Damon and Jeremy saw that she was going to talk which made him want to say something to take the heat off of Elena because he knew that Matt would be hurt if he knew Elena was involved, but Damon, once again started to talk before either of them could say anything.

Damon was going to lie. It was going to benefit himself and Stefan and Elena, but mostly he was doing it for Elena and his brother. They didn't need to have Matt harbouring any bad feelings towards them since the whole Vicki problem was his fault to begin with. He was going to twist the truth to get himself out of trouble too.

"I don't know who turned your sister, but I was the one who killed her in the end. My brother wasn't involved," Damon told Matt. Elena wanted to yell at Damon for lying, but a big part of her was grateful for the lie.

Matt didn't know what to say. He just felt completely lost.

For whatever reason, Matt annoyed the hell out of Damon, but right he felt kind of bad for him.

"She wasn't the same person you knew. The person I killed wasn't your sister anymore, Matt. She was just completely overcome. Your sister wouldn't have killed someone, but that's exactly what she was trying to do," Damon explained.

Matt didn't know what to do or say. He felt like something was ripped out of him.

He grabbed whatever was nearest to him and smashed it against the wall and water started pooling in his eyes.

Elena felt her heart breaking for her friend Matt, the boy who she had known just as long as she had known Bonnie and Caroline.

Caroline couldn't take seeing Matt like this. She hated to see him in pain. She couldn't believe what she was about to do, but she was going to do it.

She walked over to Matt and took his head gently between her hands. "Look at me," she told him quietly.

He looked at her with shining eyes and it broke her heart. She took her thumb and wiped the wet edges of his eyes. "You will forget what Damon just told you," she said.

Elena and Jeremy gasped in surprise. Caroline was compelling Matt.

Damon just watched the scene unfold.

"You will remember that your sister died, but you won't question how it happened. You will accept that she is gone and you will miss her and love her and you will know that despite everything, despite how messed up she got, that she loved you very much. You can remember what you learned about Stefan and Damon and me because I refuse to screw with your head anymore than I just did. Whatever your feelings are about learning that me and Damon and Stefan are vampires, you can keep them. I won't force you to love me or accept me if you can't do that on your own. You _will_ know that I love you, but the rest is all your choice. I can't stand to see you sad and suffering so you will not remember Damon telling you that he killed your sister. You will not remember being told that she became a vampire. You will not question her death. Do you understand?" she asked.

"I understand," Matt said with a nod.

"You're going to go home now," Caroline said gently, her eyes still locked with his.

"I'm going to go home now," Matt repeated.

Matt walked out the door and Caroline headed for the cupboards.

"I know your aunt's got alcohol in here somewhere," she said to Elena and Jeremy. "Where is it?"

"You don't need to get smashed right now Blondie," Damon said.

"I don't like what I just did," Caroline said quietly.

"Don't you dare cry right now Barbie," Damon said. "It wasn't a bad thing. You weren't trying to hurt him. You tried to spare the guy some more suffering. You did him a kindness, if anything. It's not like you made him forget everything- your little boyfriend's is till aware of what we are. You didn't do anything to hurt him- so get over feeling bad. You can feel like shit the day you start using compulsion to hurt people- til then just get over today and move on."

Damon didn't say anything that was mean actually, but Elena wished he was gentler about it.

"Care, you're not going to compel him again, right?" Elena asked.

"No, I'm not," she answered.

"Don't feel so bad then, okay? You didn't want him to hurt so you took away the knowledge that was making him hurt. Did you have the right to do it? No you didn't, but it was a one time thing to take away his pain. Don't dwell on feeling guilty," Elena said.

Caroline wiped at her eyes, shook her head and took a breath. "Okay," she said. "Gotta focus on food anyway, right?"

"Correct," Elena said with a smile. "We have a culinary masterpiece to prepare."

"You two are gonna cook?" Jeremy asked, amused at the thought. "Well, I think I'm going to stick around and watch."

"If you're here, you're helping," Caroline said. "There is no observing."

"What about him?" Jeremy asked, pointing at Damon.

"He's going to help," Elena said with a grin.

"Okay, what the hell, I'll help," Jeremy said.

"Earn yourself some points with little Miss Bon-Bon- smart move," Damon said.

Jeremy laughed and rolled his eyes.

o-o-o-o-o-o-o-

"_The idiot warlocks think the girl is still alive. Jonas thinks his daughter still lives. Luka thinks his sister still walks the earth- and that's why they are assisting me. They don't know that you killed Greta," Elijah laughed. "The warlocks and the idiots in this town are clueless, completely clueless Klaus. It's quite amusing."_

Luka could not get overhearing that conversation out of his head.

First he learned that his father killed Lucy Bennett and then he overheard that conversation between Klaus and Elijah, and then Bonnie's father showed up yelling about overhearing his father saying that he would kill Bonnie- and then it happened so fast, before he could even react Bonnie's father attacked with magic. Bonnie's father had killed his father.

Luka had wanted to lash out and react and kill Bonnie's father for what he did to his, but he knew it in his bones, when Bonnie's father said that he heard his father say that he was going to kill Bonnie, Luka knew that wasn't lying. Luka's father had lied to him when he said that he only wanted to make sure that Bonnie couldn't find another witch to cook up a plan to mess things up with.

Luka could not accept that his father was going to kill Bonnie. Luka had never wanted anything to happen to her. He cared about Bonnie a lot and that was why he lied when Elijah showed up. He lied and said that Bonnie's father shot his father.

Luka remembered Bonnie telling him that her father didn't have any magic. Luka figured that she either had lied or really did not know, and either way, the fact that her father was a warlock was not common knowledge. He knew for a fact that Elijah thought Bonnie's father had no magic powers.

He covered because he didn't want anything bad to happen to Bonnie. He covered because despite how horrible he was feeling over his dad, he could understand Bonnie's father perfectly. Someone had threatened his daughter and he made sure that that person could never carry out what he planned to do.

After he lied to Elijah, Elijah asked him if he would be able to do the necessary magic to remove the curse when the time came. He told Elijah that he could even though he wasn't sure if he was strong enough on his own.

Elijah said that they were going to proceed with things exactly as before but that the story now would be that Luka was dead and that Elijah had killed him.

Elijah's reasoning for this had been that it would make Bonnie feel better, it would keep her from seeking any revenge and possibly ruining the plans for the removal of the Sun/Moon curse.

Luka said that he would go along with anything Elijah wanted because all he wanted was his sister back, little did Elijah know that all Luka wanted now was to kill Elijah and Klaus. Everything that had happened was their fault. If Klaus had never taken Greta, Luka's father would never had done the things he did and he got himself killed.

Luka had no family left to protect anymore, so he tell Bonnie everything. He wanted to help her if he could. He was going to tell her everything that he knew. He would do whatever she wanted him to do if he could help. He would have to lie about one thing though, and he did just twenty minutes ago. He told Bonnie that he never knew of the plan to sacrifice her friend that he had only learned of it today when Elijah spoke to him.

Luka had always hated that someone innocent would have to be sacrificed, but it was Elena's life or his sister's. Of course he had chosen his sister. Bonnie would never forgive him if she knew that he had known of the plan to sacrifice her friend, so he lied about knowing.

Her friend was fine, nothing had happened, and the important thing now is that nothing would happen, because Elijah was not going to be able to do what he wanted.

He didn't think that Bonnie trusted him and he couldn't really blame her right now. He only hoped that she would come around and realize that he would never do anything to hurt her. He cared about her- he had taken a liking to her right away. He couldn't believe that he had blurted out to her that he "more than liked her" but he did and it was true. There was something special about Bonnie and he wished he had met her under different circumstances.

Luka lay down on the bed and closed his eyes wondering what the next two months would bring. He wondered if Bonnie already knew that Elijah was not trustworthy. He wondered if she already had plans on taking him down. If she did, she told him nothing about it. He had the feeling that she was going to tell him nothing, so essentially he was in things alone right now. He had to build his own plan on how to kill Elijah and Klaus.

He hoped Bonnie would come around and that they could work together, but until then he had to assume that he was alone in killing Elijah and Klaus.

o-o-o-o-o-o-o

_She was supposed to be scared and she was supposed to be on the run. She was both of these things, but more than either, she was furious and wanted revenge. She knew that she could not get revenge on Klaus and Elijah themselves because they could easily kill her even though she was a vampire. She could not exact her revenge on them, but she might be able to give them the smallest taste of the agony they had caused her. _

_It had been hard to get here, and it probably wouldn't even affect them that much, but doing anything that would cause Klaus and Elijah even the slightest discomfort was what she was going to do. _

_She could not get the image from a month earlier out of her mind. She could still see the dead bodies of her family scattered across the house. She could still remember the first and last looks and the most unbearable goodbye with her- no, she would not even think of her right now, not when she was about to kill a small town of people with a smile on her face._

_She was back, very close to where her vampire life had begun last year. She was in the little town not far from where the Originals kept residence. For whatever reason, Elijah and Klaus liked the people of this tiny town- and that was why she was going to destroy them all. _

_She pulled her hood over her head and began her little killing spree. Necks snapped, bodies burned, blood drained- she killed 53 people and left without feeling any remorse, and, to her disappointment, no satisfaction either. Katerina Petrova, or Katherine Pierce as she now called herself would never quite feel satisfied where Elijah and Klaus were concerned- not until she could kill them. _

Katherine could remember the day that she destroyed that town so clearly. She remembered what she had been thinking and everything. She had been daring that night- she had wanted some kind of revenge that night, but she had been scared that night also. She did not want to be found. After wreaking havoc on the town, she had fled.

She wasn't scared anymore, all there was was rage and a desire for revenge.

She was going to get revenge if it was the last thing she ever did.

o-o-o-o-o-

"Luka said that the reason that he and his father were working with Elijah was because Klaus had Luka's sister captive. Elijah promised them that he would get Luka's sister, Greta away from Klaus if they helped him. Luka said all that they knew about the ritual was that they were going to use their magic to remove a curse. Luka says he didn't know anything about anyone having to die until Elijah talked to him earlier. Luka says that all he wants now is for Klaus and Elijah to die because he found out that his sister was killed. Elijah thinks that Luka is on his side, but Luka says he's not. Luka said that he lied to Elijah about how my dad killed his because he wanted to protect me."

"Is that about where he told he he 'more than liked you'?" Stefan asked, trying to get Bonnie to laugh a little bit. The poor girl looked stressed beyond belief.

To his pleasure, she let out a little chuckle. "Yeah," she said.

"He told me that he would help me with anything I wanted, all I had to do was ask. He said he knew that I probably didn't trust him, but he promised he would be there if I decided to ask him for help. He wanted me to know that he wasn't dead and that Elijah is lying and that I shouldn't worry about him helping Elijah because it wasn't going to happen," Bonnie said.

"What do you think about all of this? Do you trust him?" Stefan asked.

"I actually think he's telling me the truth, but I'm not trusting him with anything, which is why I said virtually nothing during the conversation with the exception of 'yeah I'm here' and 'Take care of yourself, goodbye.' If you and me aren't telling Elena or Caroline and Damon about our plans, there's no way in hell I'm going to trust Luka with them," Bonnie said.

"Good," Stefan said.

"There's this huge part of me that wants to tell them what's going on, but I'm so scared that they won't believe us about Elijah and Klaus," Bonnie said.

"Trust me, I get it, Bonnie," Stefan said. "I hate lying to Elena ore than just about anything, but she really believes Elijah. And there's the whole issue about most of our information coming from Katherine. I'm just really worried that if we tell them, they're gonna act differently somehow and Elijah's gonna know something is up."

"Part of me thinks we're being idiots keeping everything to ourselves for now, but I really do think it's for the best. And besides, it's not like we're not ever going to tell them," Bonnie said.

"Exactly, we'll tell them when we're ready and have everything we need, that way we're prepared if something does go wrong."

"I want all this crap over so bad," Bonnie said.

"I'm with you on that a million percent," Stefan sighed.

o-o-o-o-o-o

Elena pulled Damon to the side. "It was good of you to cover for Stefan like that, before, with Matt," she said.

Damon shrugged. "Vicki was all on me, no need to have Matt hating on Sir Broods-A-Lot for a problem I created."

"You covered for me, too," Elena said.

"You did nothing wrong at all- in any way, so why the hell would I bring you up? If I said she had tried to kill you, he'd always associate you with his sister getting killed. I know he's your friend and I know that it would hurt you- and I'm kind of all about 'Happy Elena' so it wouldn't really make sense to bring you up."

"Thank you," she said quietly, giving him a hug.

o-o-o-o-o-o-o-

"The spell is going to take about an hour and a half before it'll kick in," Bonnie said.

"Okay then, perfect. Go take a nap or something. You've gone through a lot today," Stefan told her.

"I can't," Bonnie said.

"And why not?" Stefan asked.

"Cuz we both have to be here for that hour and a half," Bonnie said.

"I'm still not seeing why not."

"I'm not gonna go take a nap while sit around waiting for an hour and a half bored out of your mind," Bonnie said.

Stefan laughed. "You're worried about me being bored? That's very nice of you, but don't worry about that- I'm sure I can find something to do for an hour and a half."

"Well, I kind of killed this television earlier, so TV down here is out of the question and I doubt you're in the mood to read a romance novel which is pretty much what my book collection consists of. You're gonna be bored," she said.

"Throw me a text-book or something. I'm sure you've got some homework," Stefan said.

There was a twinkle in Bonnie's eye. "You'll do my homework for me?"

Stefan laughed at how pleased that apparently made Bonnie. "Yeah."

"You rock," she said.

"In the grand scheme of things, doing your homework is nothing when you compare it to you doing a spell that'll tell me when traitorous bastard is around."

Bonnie just shrugged and smiled. She grabbed her book and handed it to Stefan. "You still rock, anyway."

Bonnie went upstairs and plopped down onto her bed. Earlier in the morning she wouldn't sleep because she needed to find out what happened to Lucy and because she wanted revenge. She knew now what happened and the only person left around to want revenge on was Elijah and that would not be happening for awhile.

She wouldn't trust Luka enough to enlist his help which meant that she was going to really have to get Damon's help. There was nothing left to think about for now. The truth was that she was exhausted. Damon and Stefan were right, she really did need to rest a little bit.

She set an alarm on her phone so that she would wake up in an hour and a half to finish the last part of the spell and then she closed her eyes and quickly fell asleep.

o-o-o-o-o-o

"There is no way that you can eat _that," _Damon told Elena, pointing at the pizza creation thing.

"Oh yes she can," Jeremy said. "She's tiny, but trust me, she can scarf stuff down. They all ate a whole big pizza thing each the last time."

"You two are folding it wrong," Caroline told Damon and Jeremy.

"It's gonna look like crap however we fold it, Blondie," Damon said.

"Our creation, our rules," Elena said. "You're folding it wrong," Elena grinned.

"Your sister is very mean, and a little bit annoying" Damon said to Jeremy.

Jeremy chuckled and Elena made a face at him.

"Elena is the nicest and very best sister in all the world and she is not annoying at all," Jeremy said dramatically.

"Much better," Elena said with a grin.

"You _actually_ are pretty awesome- most of the time," Jeremy said with a laugh.

"Love you too, Jer," Elena said, sticking out her tongue at her brother.

Damon watched Elena with a smile on his face. He loved seeing her happy.

Caroline watched Damon watching Elena and sighed. She was torn between anger and sympathy. It was clear as day that Damon loved Elena- his brother's girl which was a no-no but she couldn't help but feel a little sorry for Damon. It must suck to know that the person you love is completely in love with someone else.

Damon saw Caroline watching him and just rolled his eyes.


	18. Chapter 18

o-0-o- Hello everyone. I'm back with a new chapter. Thanks a bunch for the reviews last chapter. I hope you enjoy this new chapter. Please review and let me know what you think o-0-o-

"I knew that textbook was boring as hell, but I didn't know it was so boring that it could put you to sleep," Bonnie smiled, coming back down the stairs after getting some rest.

Stefan opened his eyes and laughed. "I finished what you needed to have done so I figured I'd close my eyes for a bit too. It was pretty boring- I wasn't going to read any more of it than was necessary."

"The book is horrible, sitting through the class is even worse. I've literally fallen asleep in that class more times than I can remember. I'm pretty sure Mr. Bale hates my guts," she grinned.

Stefan chuckled and asked her is she actually got some rest.

"Yeah, I did. It was good," she said.

"So what exactly do we have to do so you can complete this Elijah-sensing spell?" Stefan asked.

"Come stand in front of me," she said.

Stefan got up and came to stand in front of her.

Bonnie picked up the shirt off the ground and then said "Okay, now take my hand with your left one."

Stefan took hold of her hand.

"Now use your other hand to hold a piece of the sweater, while I do the same," she instructed. "Okay, good. Now you just stand there while I do my thing," she told him, beginning to chant.

After about thirty seconds Bonnie let go of his hand. "All done," she said.

Bonnie picked up the sweater and threw it into the garbage.

"Can I ask you something, Stefan?'

"Sure," he said.

"Did my dad actually ask you and Damon to make sure nothing happened to me, or was Damon just trying to annoy me?"

Stefan laughed a bit. "Well, there's a chance that Damon was trying to annoy you, but yeah, your dad did ask us."

"Well, don't listen to him. I can take care of myself. He doesn't do so well with the Daddy-Protector thing so he bugs you guys to look out for me. He really doesn't realize that I can protect myself just fine- that I take care of myself just fine. I'm sorry he bothered you."

"Bothered us, really?" Stefan said. "I wasn't bothered. You're my friend- of course I'm going to look out for you- it's what friends do, right? Your dad asking didn't influence that at all. And trust me; I know by now that you can take care of yourself. No one's denying your capability and power."

"Okay," Bonnie said with a little smile.

"So Miss Bennett, are you aware that your kitchen still looks a bit like a war-zone?" Stefan asked.

"I knew I forgot to fix up somewhere," Bonnie said. "When I went back in there with Matt I didn't really look around. Is it that bad?" She asked.

"Well, let's just say that you were pretty angry and riled up just before your dad showed up at the door."

"When I heard Jonas' voice. When I knew that he had killed Lucy and when he said that he was coming for me too, I went a little crazy," Bonnie said.

"I don't think you were crazy. I would have done the same thing I would have headed straight for the door and went to track him down- but I'm not a witch whose emotions can impact other things and make them explode and shatter," Stefan said with a smile.

"Are the stove and fridge still standing?" Bonnie asked nervously.

Stefan nodded.

Bonnie walked into the kitchen. "Oh, lovely," she muttered. "Stefan, are you any good with TVs?" she asked.

"Like can I set one up?"

"Yeah," she said.

"Sure."

"Would you mind setting one up for me?'

"Not at all."

"Cool. Give me a couple minutes to fix this kitchen then you can come dig up the TV from the basement and help me hook it up in the living room. I got Matt to put it in the entertainment wall unit thingy but I told him not to bother doing anything. Dad bought it like 5 months ago and sent it, but I'm never in the basement really, so there was no point in even attempting to set it up. But it'll come in handy now."

"Okay," Stefan said.

After a few minutes of chanting and wrist flicking, the kitchen looked much better.

"Okay, let's go find- oh wow, okay. You already found it and brought it up- with the wall unit- the very big and heavy wall unit" Bonnie laughed. "I could have helped you- with magic."

"No help needed," Stefan grinned. "This weighs next to nothing for me."

"Vampire strength comes in handy sometimes," she chuckled. "But we don't really need the wall unit, though."

"Are you sure about that?" Stefan asked, laughing.

Bonnie looked over to where the TV she destroyed was and noticed that the unit it sat on was missing a couple of the doors that used to be on.

"I really gotta learn how to control that," Bonnie mumbled.

"Maybe you should try meditation or something?" Stefan suggested.

Bonnie chuckled and shrugged. "Anyway, so I have no idea what to do to hook the TV up but I can help if you tell me what to do."

"Do you _want _to help?" Stefan asked with a laugh.

"No, not really," Bonnie grinned.

"Sit back and relax then. This won't take that long," he said.

"Have I ever told you that you are the absolute _best _best friend's boyfriend ever?" Bonnie said happily.

Stefan just laughed. "No you haven't, but Caroline has."

"Seriously?"

"Yep," Stefan said.

"Well, how about you're the _best_best friend's boyfriend who then just happened to turn into my friend too," Bonnie said.

"I like that one," Stefan said with a smile.

o-o-o-o-o-o

"I'll be back in a bit. Gotta grab my pjs," Caroline said, heading for the door. "Elena, do not let them eat more than one. They're allowed to split it- that's it. The other 3 are ours."

"You heard her," Elena said. "if either of you want some you can split one when it comes out of the oven- the rest are for us and Bonnie."

"So Elena, you think I can get an invite to the sleepover me and Bonnie in one room and you and Caroline in the other," Jeremy said with a grin.

Elena pretended to gag. "No no no. There will be no joining the sleepover and there will be no room-sharing or bed-sharing between the two of you- _ever _while I'm around, do you understand me little brother?" Elena said.

Jeremy just laughed at his sister. "I thought you were all happy about me and her."

"I _ am _happy- I just have no desire at all to be anywhere in the vicinity of you two and a bed," Elena said.

Jeremy laughed and Damon smirked.

"You two better not have gone anywhere near my room last night," Elena told Jeremy and his jaw dropped.

"That's right," Elena said with a grin. "Big sister knows all."

"You two are actually quite entertaining," Damon said, watching Elena and Jeremy.

"Glad we could be of amusement to you," Elena said with a tiny bow. "Now both of you watch the stove- I've gotta go get my pyjamas from upstairs."

"Why were you with Bonnie this morning?" Jeremy asked.

"She was half-drunk and was walking in the completely opposite direction of her house. She was tired- she spent the night with me," Damon said, wording it that way specifically just to piss off Jeremy.

"What the hell?" Jeremy said.

"You're no fun," Damon sighed. "She crashed on my couch. She could hardly keep her eyes open. She'd walked the wrong way totally and my house was the closest thing."

"Oh," Jeremy said.

"Word of advice for you, kid," Damon said, turning to Jeremy. "Don't be too clingy. Don't try to protect her so much and don't do the jealous idiot thing. It won't get you too far with her."

"Excuse me?" Jeremy said.

"Chill kid," Damon said. "It's obvious you're pretty crazy about her, but all I'm saying- and this is my good deed for the rest of my life- is don't crowd the girl."

"O-kay," Jeremy said awkwardly. "Thanks, I think."

"I'm back," Caroline said popping up out of nowhere. "Vampire speed is definitely handy."

Elena came back down the stairs and clapped her hands. "I think our masterpieces are ready."

"I really hope they taste good because they look horrible," Damon said, making a face.

"Here, taste," Caroline said, shoving a gooey piece into Damon's mouth.

"Holy shit Barbie, that's friggin' hot," Damon hissed.

"Don't be a baby. Chew and tell," Caroline grinned.

"Wow, that's a_ctually _pretty good," Damon said.

"Here," Elena said, giving a piece to Jeremy.

"Okay, I concede- the screw up is definitely not a screw up. That stuff is good."

"Isn't it fun being right?" Caroline said, grinning at Elena.

"Totally," Elena agreed.

o-o-o-o-o-o

"I know we're a bit behind now, umm... without Lucy," Bonnie said quietly to Stefan. "But I promise, I've got stuff under control- it's just gonna take a bit more time."

"Bonnie, seriously, please don't worry about that. Mourn your cousin- you're allowed to have time to be sad and think about yourself. I can-"

"Stefan, it's not a good idea for you to go and get the tree wood- it'll raise suspicions if anyone finds out," Bonnie said.

"I know," he said.

"Just give me a bit of time so I can build up my strength with some more practice and we can do this, okay? Then we won't have risk anything looking suspicious. You're very sweet for being concerned for me about Lucy, I really do appreciate it. I'm sad, really sad, but I can't bring her back- what I can do is help make sure my best friend stays safe."

"Okay," Stefan finally said.

Bonnie gave him a smile.

"Well, Miss Bennett. You're TV's ready for use and the DVD player's hooked up too."

Bonnie clapped her hands together and then the doorbell rang.

"B, open up. We have yumminess waiting for you," Caroline said.

Bonnie let out a laugh and walked to the door.

"Yumminess that we _made_ for you," Elena said.

"You made food for me?" Bonnie said with a big grin as she opened the door.

"We totally did," Caroline said, walking through the door.

"Jeremy and Damon even helped," Elena said, closing the door behind her.

"Are you serious?" Bonnie asked.

Elena and Caroline nodded.

"Is it safe to eat?" Bonnie asked with a laugh.

Elena unwrapped the food and Bonnie did a little jump of happiness. "You guys rock," Bonnie said.

"Is the stuff really that good?" Stefan asked, coming over to take a look.

"Sooooooooooooooo good, Stefan," Caroline said.

"What she said," Elena laughed.

"Your boyfriend is very handy," Bonnie said to Elena. "I asked him if he knew anything about how to set up a TV and he said yes. I asked him to help with the TV situation, you know cuz I destroyed the other one- and he totally set everything up for me. So we can still do movie night here after all we don't have to stick to just my room."

"I'll get out of your hair now, ladies," Stefan laughed.

"Come on Care, come grab some plates with me in the kitchen so Stefan and Elena can make out and say goodbye," Bonnie said with a laugh.

"Always so considerate, Bonnie," Elena laughed.

"I'm good like that," Bonnie said giving Elena a wink. "Thanks again, Stefan."

"No prob, Bonnie. Have a good night, okay?"

"I got my girls, so now worries there. It'll definitely be a good night," Bonnie said.

"Bye Stefan," Caroline said, following Bonnie into the kitchen.

"Bye Caroline."

"So what are you gonna do tonight?" Elena asked Stefan.

"Probably a whole lot of nothing," Stefan laughed.

"Sounds like fun," Elena joked.

"Absolutely," Stefan grinned.

Elena took Stefan's hand and led him outside and closed the door. "I don't want Caroline to hear right now, cuz it'll just make her sad again, but I wanted to tell you what happened before."

"What happened before?"

"After me and Care and Damon went back to my house, I guess Matt saw Jeremy coming home or whatever. As Jeremy was opening the door Matt asked him what happened to Vicki. Jeremy didn't know what to tell him, so he didn't say anything, and then Matt saw that we were all there. Damon told him what happened."

"So Matt must totally hate me and Damon now, right?" Stefan said. "He wasn't angry with you, right?"

"Actually Damon kept you and me out of it completely. He told Matt that Vicki got turned into a vampire. He said that she was out of control and that she was going to kill someone. He said that to protect the person she was going to kill, she got killed. When he said that, Matt automatically asked who turned her and killed her- he asked if it was you and Damon. Damon told him he didn't know who turned Vicki but that it was him who killed her in the end. He told Matt that you weren't involved. Matt smashed something against the wall. He looked so lost and sad. I felt so horrible. Care couldn't stand to see him so sad so she compelled him to forget what Damon said about Vicki. She told him that he wouldn't keep questioning her death that he would be sad but that he'd know his sister loved him very much. She didn't make him forget about knowing that you guys were vampires and she didn't try to influence how he felt about her because she didn't want to mess with his head. She felt so bad about compelling him, but she just didn't want him to hurt. Damon even tried to make her feel better."

"It's good that he was trying to make her feel better. And I'm glad he kept you out of it when he was talking to Matt. I'm surprised he left me out of it- I'm the one who killed her in the end," Stefan said quietly.

"I said that it was good of him to keep you out of things. Don't tell him that I'm telling you this, but his exact response was 'Vicki was all on me, no need to have Matt hating on Sir Broods-A-Lot for a problem I created.' "

Stefan laughed a bit.

"Your brother loves you, you know," Elena said.

Stefan gave her a weak smile.

"And I know that despite everything he's done, you love him too," Elena said.

Stefan didn't respond, but he pulled Elena into a hug. "You don't need to worry about me and Damon, okay? Me and him are alright, but we don't need to go into the complexities of Stefan and Damon," he said, laughing a little.

"You guys used to be really close a long time ago. It just sucks that Katherine ruined that," Elena said.

"I blamed her for quite awhile for how things between Damon and I got, but the truth is it's all on me and Damon. We can't blame her for that. We made our own choices," Stefan said.

Elena stayed quiet for a minute.

"It's sweet that you care so much, but don't worry. Me and Damon _are _okay. I'm not gonna lie, sometimes it's hard being around him, as I imagine it is for him to be around me sometimes, but you're right, I _do_ love my brother... You're lucky with Jeremy because you can just love him without anger and hurt. You can love each other without having the feeling of having let each other down- of being let down," Stefan said. "Jeremy wouldn't force on you something that you clearly didn't want just because he felt alone and wasn't quite sure how to live in a world without you. And you, even if he did force you into something you didn't want, you would _never_set out to do whatever it took to make him suffer. You would never let Jeremy come to believe that you truly hated him- that you wished him nothing but pain and misery."

"I'm sorry," Elena said quietly.

"Why are you sorry?" Stefan asked, looking down at her.

"I don't know when to shut up sometimes," Elena said.

"You can say anything you want to me," Stefan said, kissing her.

"For months now, you two have seemed to be doing fine, even joking around here and there. I guess it's just cuz I know that there was a time when you two were practically best friends that I feel really sad for you two- that I want everything for you two to be all perfect again. But I should have just kept my mouth shut because I know there's a lot of difficult stuff between you guys. I didn't want to make you start remembering things and make you feel sad or guilty, which I clearly just did. I'm sorry," Elena said, feeling bad.

"You don't ever have to apologize to me for caring. And don't worry, I'm fine. You say whatever you want to say, okay? Don't feel bad. Not all siblings can be you and Jeremy. Me and Damon are fine. Sure, it's not the same as before, but considering everything that's happened, we're in a good place. We've got each other's backs," Stefan said.

"And _that's_ really good," Elena said in approval.

"You know what else is really good?" Stefan said. "Or would be really good."

"What?" Elena asked.

"You. Me. Sleepover. Tomorrow," Stefan said with a grin.

"That _would _be very good. I think we should make that happen," Elena said grinning back.

"Oh my God. Hurry up and say goodbye and get your ass inside Elena," Caroline called.

Stefan laughed. "You got told, Elena."

"Yes I did," Elena chuckled.

"I'll call you later," Stefan said, kissing Elena again. "Love you," Elena said.

"Love you too. Have fun," Stefan said.

"Okay ladies," Elena said, walking back in. "Time to stuff our faces."

The girls ate happily. "We need to make this more often," Bonnie said. "You guys are awesome by the way- braving the kitchen for me. You know none of us do too well in there."

"That's just how much we love you- we brave the scary kitchen for you," Elena smiled.

After they finished eating and watched The Hangover, Eagle Eye, and the Italian Job (they decided to change it up and not do a chick-flick night) Caroline said, "You haven't cried yet, have you, Bonnie?"

"I don't think so," Bonnie said, suddenly feeling water rushing to her eyes.

"Well, we're here now. It's just us three. You can let it out," Elena said.

And just like that, with Elena and Caroline next to her, she forgot why she told herself not to cry before. Elena and Caroline were there, things would be okay. She let herself cry.

o-o-o-o-o-o

"I heard Matt was asking questions about what happened to Vicki," Stefan said to Damon.

"Yup, but Blondie compelled him. He won't be asking about that anymore," Damon said.

"I don't know what you said to him, but Elena said you didn't mention my name or hers. Thanks," Stefan said.

"No biggie," Damon said with a nod, heading out.

Stefan went to the basement and grabbed some blood. He was going to head out to see Katherine, but he decided to grab a couple things first. He figured he could do something nice since she was helping.

He went upstairs and came back down with a duffel bag. He went to the kitchen and grabbed something and threw it in the bag. He then headed off to where he figured out that Katherine had been staying. It was dark now so he snuck into the room she had been staying in and grabbed a bag that had some of her clothes in it.

He was in and out of the place she was staying in about two minutes. He made one more stop, the grocery store and then headed off to the tomb.

He pulled out his phone and called Elena to see how the night was going.

"Hey. How's the night going?" he asked.

"You'd be very proud- we haven't watched a single chick-flick. We decided on action and comedy," Elena laughed. "What are you up to?"

"I think I might read," Stefan said.

"Alright, well have a good night. I'll see you tomorrow."

"Yes, you will _definitely _see me tomorrow. You're all mine tomorrow," Stefan said.

"I like the sound of that," Elena smiled.

"Goodnight beautiful," he said.

"Goodnight Stefan!" Caroline and Bonnie yelled in the background.

Stefan laughed as he hung up the phone.

Elena went to close the window that they had opened earlier because it was cold now and had to do a double-take at what she saw. Stefan was walking somewhere holding a duffel bag. Stefan, who just said that he was going to read. Where was he going?

o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o

"Stefan?" Katherine said, hearing something.

"Yeah, it's me," Stefan said, coming into view.

"What do you have with you?" she asked, looking at the bag.

"I brought some stuff for you," he said, opening the bag.

"What did you bring?" Katherine asked curiously.

"Here, the usual, first," he said, handing her the blood.

"Thanks," she said, taking a drink.

"Here," he said, passing her the bag with her clothes. "I figured you're probably getting sick of that dress."

"This is my stuff," she said.

"I found where you had been staying. I snuck in and grabbed you some clothes," he said simply.

"Cool, thanks," she said, trying not too sound too excited or happy.

"There's more," Stefan said, handing her several big water bottles.

Katherine looked confused

Stefan actually laughed a bit. "Here," he said passing her a small bucket and soap. "It's not like you can take a shower in there or anything, but I figure if you want, this way you can at least wash up a bit."

"Oh. Thanks," she said again, wondering why he was doing this.

Stefan could see that she was wondering why he brought her that stuff.

"You're helping, so I figure I should try to help make you a bit comfortable," he said with a shrug.

"That's nice of you," she said.

"I've got something else," he said, pulling out a couple blankets.

She took the blankets and stared at them for a minute, taking herself back to a different time.

"_Come be naughty with me in the grass, Stefan," Katherine said with a sing-song laugh. "There's no one around. We can be alone."_

_Stefan took a few steps in the other direction._

"_Where are you going?" Stefan asked._

"_Nowhere," he said. "I'm just grabbing this," he said, showing her the blanket._

_Katherine grinned. "I'm no delicate little flower, my sweet. You know that" she said._

"_I _do _know that. But you're special. You're exquisite. You deserve far more than the feel of grass against your skin as you let me in," Stefan said._

_Katherine giggled with pleasure as she pulled Stefan down into the grass with her._

"What is it?" Stefan asked.

"Nothing," she said quickly, bringing herself back to the present. "I was just remembering something... Thanks again for bringing me all this."

Stefan just shrugged. "You're welcome."

"Goodnight Stefan," she said. "This is about the time you usually leave."

Stefan smiled. "Goodnight Katherine."

"Sweet dreams, Stefan."

Stefan walked back to his house, completely oblivious to the fact that once again, he was walking by Bonnie's house and that Elena was seeing him.

Elena saw Stefan come back from wherever he had gone but he didn't have the bag with him anymore.

She wondered where he had went and where the bag was or who he had brought it to. Elena thought on it for a couple minutes and she didn't like the conclusion she came to. She didn't like it one bit. _Katherine!_


	19. Chapter 19

o-0-o-0-o- Hey everyone. Thanks a lot for the reviews last chapter. This is the newest chapter. Hope you like it. Please leave a review and let me know what you think. Sidenote lol, less than 2 weeks til TVD comes back with new episodes. YAY! o-0-o-0-o-

_You don't actually know that he went to see Katherine. He could have gone anywhere... But then why did he lie? Why didn't he just tell me where he was going? Even if he's going to see Katherine, that doesn't mean anything- right? He loves you. He loves you. He loves you and you _know_ this._

Elena couldn't stop thinking about Stefan going to see Katherine. She felt very confused and didn't know what to do. She wanted to scream. She wanted to cry.

"Hypothetical question," Elena said, turning to Bonnie and Caroline. "If Stefan was going to see Katherine, should I be worried? Do you think I should be freaking out?"

Bonnie nearly cringed. This wasn't good. Why did Elena think Stefan had went to see Katherine? Bonnie didn't doubt that he had, but why was Elena wondering?

"Why would he be going to see that bitch?" Caroline asked.

"You didn't answer my question. Do you think I should be worried? Should I be freaking out, you know, _if_ he was going to see her?" Elena said.

"No," Bonnie said, before Caroline could answer.

"No?" Caroline repeated, but asking Bonnie a question at the same time.

"Yes, I said no," Bonnie repeated.

"Seriously?" Caroline said.

"Yeah," Bonnie said. "Okay, let's put it like this, what are the things that Elena should be freaking out about?"

"Well, her boyfriend is hypothetically visiting his ex, his crazy psychotic ex who says she's still in love with him," Caroline said.

"Okay," Bonnie said. "What else?"

Elena's head moved back and forth from Bonnie to Caroline, taking all the words in.

"She should be worried and wondering if maybe her boyfriend in this hypothetical situation still has feelings or is falling for his ex again," Caroline said, as if it was the most obvious thing in the world.

"Okay," Bonnie said. "Now, what do we _know_ about Stefan, Caroline?"

Elena stared at them intently, forgetting her own thoughts and focusing completely on what her friends were saying.

"What are the first things that pop into your head when you think of Stefan?" Bonnie asked.

"Elena," Caroline said with a little grin.

"And," Bonnie said.

"How he's totally and completely in love with her. And that normal assumptions about the potential douche-baggery of boyfriends don't apply to him. And that he's loyal- and that he's a good guy who wouldn't hurt a friend, let alone Elena," Caroline said, chuckling.

"Exactly," Bonnie said, turning to Elena now. "_Do __ not_ be worried. You _know_how much he loves you. You two are like- epic," Bonnie said, smiling, giving Elena a gentle nudge.

"I _do _know that," Elena said softly.

"I'm with Bonnie," Caroline said. "I don't think you need to be worried. Trust me, I get why you'd be mad, but he's not betraying you. I'd bet my existence on that."

Elena took a breath and closed her eyes for a minute. "Why do you think he'd go to see her?" she asked.

"Because he's nice," Caroline said and Elena laughed a little bit.

"I don't think he's got it in him to be cruel to someone who isn't a threat. I think he could have killed her that night at the Masquerade Ball because we'd all thought that she wanted to kill you. But he and Damon didn't manage to kill her, and you know what, I hateher for what she did to Care and Jenna, but the reality of things is that if she wanted you dead, or had wanted to capture you and bring you to Klaus she could have done it _so many _times and she didn't. I think she had a plan- make it look like she was getting everything ready to sacrifice you. My point is that I really think she wasn't going to hurt you and I can guarantee you Stefan probably thinks the same thing as me or else he wouldn't be going to see her," Bonnie said, having to say something, yet not everything about things with Katherine to ease Elena's mind.

"It makes sense," Caroline said. "If he believes that she was never going to actually hurt you, then I'm sure he can muster up some sympathy for her being in there. He's probably bringing her blood so she doesn't starve."

"I don't trust her, though," Elena said, opening her eyes again.

"Exactly," Bonnie said gently. "You don't trust her or like her, and no one can blame you for that- and Stefan probably didn't want to upset you."

Elena smiled and exhaled. "I feel better," she said. "Thanks."

"So what are you gonna say to him, cuz we know this wasn't all actually hypothetical," Caroline said.

"I don't know," Elena said. "kinda hate Katherine, you know?" Elena said with a bit of a laugh. "And I think you guys are right, he probably didn't say anything because he didn't want to make me mad... Uh, where did Bonnie go?"

o-o-o-o-o-o

Bonnie had run down the stairs, quickly grabbing a sweater, and headed out the door. Elena must have seen Stefan walking by or something.

"Stefan," she called out. "Stefan, where are you?" she said, walking down the sidewalk, starting to really get cold in her sweater and shorts.

"Bonnie?" he said, stopping and turning around.

"Yeah, it's me. Did you forget that my house is on the way to the tomb?" she whispered. "My house, where your girlfriend is right now. She must have seen you a minute ago because she asked us if she should be worried if you were going to see Katherine. She was not happy, Stefan. Me and Caroline fixed things- we reminded her you love her and that you wouldn't hurt her- which I know you wouldn't, but I'm going to take this opportunity to remind you that if you hurt her, I'll kick your ass even though you're my friend. I was getting really worried so I kind of improvised- I said that despite everything, I didn't think Katherine actually ever planned on killing Elena and I said that you probably thought the same thing which, with you being you, allowed you to have a bit of sympathy and then Caroline said you were probably just bringing her blood so she didn't starve. Elena said that she doesn't trust Katherine but she believed us when we said we knew you weren't doing anything wrong. You need to be more careful when you go see Katherine because Elena's not a fan of that and I get why she'd be worried about you making visits to your ex. Okay, I think I'm done," Bonnie said, putting her arms around herself to keep away the cold.

Stefan groaned. "I have to talk to her. I don't want her to worry about Katherine like that. Elena has nothing to worry about. I'm all about Elena."

"I _know_you are, which is part of the reason why I think you're pretty awesome," Bonnie said. "But I get why she'd be freaking out. If I was in her situation, I'd be doing some freaking out too. Okay now Stefan, let's get inside my house so you can talk to your girlfriend and I can warm my legs up. Me and shorts and winter-time- not so fun," Bonnie said, grabbing Stefan's hand and heading for her house.

When they walked in the door Bonnie yelled. "Elena, get down here. Care if you're coming, put some pants on- Stefan's here. Actually just stay up there, I'm coming up."

Elena appeared at the top of the stairs and looked down at Stefan. "Hey," she said quietly.

"Okay, now you walk down the stairs, babe," Bonnie said, teasing Elena a little.

Elena rolled her eyes at her friend in amusement.

Bonnie started walking up the stairs as Elena started walking down them. Before heading into her room Bonnie said, "For real this time, good night, Stefan."

"Goodnight," he said, keeping in the little bit of laughter he wanted to let out.

He looked at Elena who looked like she wasn't quite sure what to say and he knew he'd have to talk first.

"Come sit with me?" he said, motioning her to the couch.

Elena followed him to the couch.

"So, yeah, it's obvious that I'm not at home reading," Stefan said carefully.

"That's for sure," Elena said.

"I went to see Katherine and I didn't want to make you mad because I knew you wouldn't like it. Me and Damon can bitch and complain until the end of the world about how she screwed us over and how she ruined us and whatever, and even if that's all true- I don't care. That doesn't matter," Stefan said.

Elena raised an eyebrow, saying 'explain' without saying a word.

"Of course I didn't see it like this before, but I don't think Katherine was ever going to hurt you. I don't think she ever wanted to sacrifice you. I think she wanted to lure Klaus here on her terms and that she had some kind of plan of her own to deal with Klaus... The tomb isn't a fun place, Elena. It's gloomy as hell in there. It's bad enough to be stuck there, but to be stuck in there and starving and-"

"You didn't want her to suffer," Elena said.

"No, I don't want her to suffer. If I still believed that she wanted to even just hurt you, let alone sacrifice you, I would leave her in there and forget about it and not feel bad about it-"

"But you don't think she wanted to," Elena said, finishing for him.

"No, I don't, so I'm not gunning for her to suffer. I brought her some things and I brought her some blood and that's it. It's not more than that, Elena. Please do not _ever _worry about that. I'm sorry I lied, I just knew you wouldn't like it."

"You're not going to be going to see her all the time, right?" Elena asked. "I can deal with you not wanting her to suffer even though I don't believe her, but I'm not okay with- I don't-"

"You don't want me going to see her to be an everyday occurrence," Stefan said, completing her sentence.

"Exactly," she said. "And don't lie to me again, Stefan."

"Okay," he said.

"Okay?"

"Yes, okay, Elena," Stefan said with a smile. She seemed to have been a bit surprised by his quick 'okay.'

"Yay. Now all's right with the world again," Caroline yelled from upstairs.

Stefan and Elena both laughed.

"Are you listening to their conversation? Get your ass in this room Forbes, leave them alone," Bonnie called out.

"Goodnight Stefan," Caroline laughed.

"Goodnight Caroline."

"You know what, those two had lots of good stuff to say about you. When your best friends are quick to defend your boyfriend- he probably shouldn't really need to be defended. I'll admit it, I got jealous over Katherine."

"Please know this. Always remember this- I love you more than anything, Elena," Stefan said. "I'd die for you. I wouldn't do anything to hurt you. I hate to see you sad; I would never want to be the cause of that," Stefan said taking Elena's hand into his.

"I _do _know that," she said, rubbing his hand with her thumb. "It's just- you've got major history with her."

"But I love you, Elena."

"She still loves you. She still wants you," Elena said.

"But _I _love _you, _Elena."

"She's good at causing trouble," Elena said.

"But I love _you _Elena, you," Stefan said, reassuring her, taking her face in his hands.

She nodded a little bit and he kissed her. When he pulled away to see her face and smiled a bit.

"You have nothing to worry about, okay?" he said, kissing her once again.

"Okay," she said quietly, nodding, taking his hand. After a few seconds she started to laugh.

"What?" Stefan asked her, smiling at hearing her laugh, one of his very favourite sounds.

"It's like Founder's Day, but we swapped roles this time," she said, remembering when they had a conversation almost identical to this, except that Damon had been the subject and Elena was reassuring Stefan of her love.

Stefan let out a laugh too. "We're quite a pair huh?"

"We get a little paranoid and forget and question things we already know. We question things that aren't to be questioned," Elena said with a small chuckle, shaking her head. "I think Buffy had it right- love makes you do the wacky."

"A wise young woman- that Buffy the Vampire Slayer," Stefan said, grinning.

"Have I ever told you that I totally love your hands?" Elena asked him, running her thumb across his hand again.

"I don't think you have," he said, chuckling a little.

"Well, I do. Random fact for you," Elena said, smiling.

"I'd like to take you home with me right now- very much," Stefan whispered.

"Tomorrow night's not that far away, Stefan," Elena reminded him, grinning.

"It's far enough," he said. "But I'll be patient and wait my turn," he said with a smile.

"Very good," Elena laughed.

"Now, I'd better get out of here so you can continue your girls night."

"Yeah, you'd better. You don't exactly have the right parts to be here tonight, Mr. Salvatore," Elena grinned.

"Me and my parts are leaving now, see," Stefan said walking to the door.

"Your parts are all wrong for tonight, but tomorrow, however, just you and me- your parts are all right and most welcome," Elena said cheekily, following him to the door.

"I hope tomorrow gets here fast," he said, grinning.

"Goodnight," she said, giving him a quick kiss.

He pulled her to him and just held her close for a minute or two, hugging her. Elena exhaled and returned the embrace, lips turning upwards in a smile.

He finally let her go and said goodnight.

Elena closed the door behind him and she felt lighter than she had fifteen minutes earlier. She felt much better. Katherine stuff was out in the open. She felt good.

She raced upstairs and tackled Bonnie and Caroline onto Bonnie's bed.

"What the hell?" both Bonnie and Caroline said, laughing.

"You guys rock and I totally love you like crazy," Elena said. "Just thought you should know that," she told them, smiling.

The curtains in Bonnie's room were still open. Stefan let out a laugh at seeing Elena and her friends in that moment. He smiled, just happy to see her happy.


	20. Chapter 20

o-0-o-0-o Thanks so much for the reviews last chapter. Hope you enjoy this new chapter. Leave a review and let me know what you think o-0-o-0-o

"You think Bonnie will still love me if I burn down her kitchen?" Elena asked Stefan over the phone.

Stefan laughed on the other end of the phone. "I think she'd love you through anything- but my suggestion is to be extra careful and try to avoid having to find out for sure."

"I can do careful. I can do this. I think I remember how to make pancakes. I made them once and my kitchen was still standing," Elena said, grabbing what she would need from the kitchen cupboards.

"Well, see, that's promising," Stefan laughed.

"I'm the first one awake- that's not _too_surprising between me and B and Care. Caroline is _always _the last one up. Me or Bonnie are always the first to be awake," Elena said as she grabbed the pan she would soon put everything into.

"You waking up earlier than someone is kind of crazy-sounding," Stefan teased.

"I _know! _ That just shows you how long Care can sleep in," Elena said, laughing.

"So, Miss Gilbert, are you opposed to your evening with me being outside of Mystic Falls?"

"Ohhh! Where outside Mystic Falls?" Elena asked curiously, mixing the pancake ingredients together, hoping it would turn out tasting good.

"Not too far," Stefan said, laughing. "You haven't answered my question, though."

"As long as some crazy catastrophe doesn't occur between now and this afternoon, I am not at all opposed to you taking me away from here tonight," Elena said as she turned on the burner of the stove. She slowly put the pan on the burner and didn't take her eyes off the spot.

"Good," Stefan said.

"Now you've got me all curious, Stefan. You really should tell me where you're planning on taking me."

"You get to wait in suspense," Stefan teased.

"That's not fair," Elena complained.

"Suck it up, princess," Stefan laugh.

"Whatever," Elena said. "I guess I can be patient, though you know I'm not the greatest at being patient."

"You can do it, Elena," Stefan told her.

"Send good vibes my way Stefan, I just put the pan on the stove," Elena told him.

"I'm sending you lots of good 'don't burn down Bonnie's kitchen or house' vibes. I've got faith in you Elena," Stefan chuckled.

"Okay, and with that, I'm gonna let you go so I can focus on watching the stove," Elena said.

"Alright, I'll give you a call in a couple hours and we'll go from there," Stefan said. "Good luck with the pancakes. Love you" Stefan chuckled.

"If you hear fire trucks and ambulances, you'll know I ruined breakfast," Elena said. "Love you too," she said, hanging up the phone.

Elena stood in front of the stove just watching the pan but she quickly got bored and yawned as soon as she flipped the pancakes over. Still keeping her eyes on the stove, she picked up her phone again but went to the music player this time. She pushed play and bobbed her head to the music as she kept an eye on the pancakes. After a few minutes she took the first pancake out of the pan and put it into the plate she'd put on the side and then put some more of the mix into the pan for the next pancake.

The doorbell rang. Elena knew that she could spare a minute to run and check who it was, but she was so paranoid around a stove most of the time that she literally ran to the door just to be careful- she didn't want to take any chances. She saw that it was Matt. She quickly opened the door. "Hey Matt," she said quickly. "Come in. I've got to watch the stove- meet me in the kitchen," she said as she ran back to watch the stove.

"Hey Elena," Matt said with a little laugh, coming into the kitchen.

"Bonnie's still asleep with Care, but you're totally welcome to hang with me," Elena said.

"I wanted to talk to you, actually. I knew you'd be here," he said

"Sit down," she told him. "You can eat and talk. You can tell me if the pancake is edible or not," she said, flipping the pancake that was in the pan.

"I'm gonna be the guinea pig," Matt said.

"Yes you are," Elena said with a little laugh. "You still like your pancakes drowned in syrup?" she asked.

"Absolutely."

"Here you go then. Tell me if it's safe to eat."

Matt took a bite and purposely didn't say anything for a bit, just to get a reaction from Elena.

"It's horrible, isn't it?" she asked miserably.

Matt laughed. "Sorry, I did that on purpose. I'm mean. It tastes fine Elena; perfectly edible."

"Yes!" Elena said, clapping her hands. "Okay," she said after a moment, calming herself down. "You said you wanted to talk. What did you want to talk about?"

"How long have you known about Stefan being a- you know?" he asked.

"Almost since the beginning," she said, taking the pancake out of the pan. She turned off the stove burner, knowing that Matt really needed her attention right now. She'd make the other pancakes later. Helping out Matt was more important right now.

"Were you scared when you found out?"

"I was freaked out at first. I was scared, mostly because I just couldn't believe it," Elena said, taking a seat next to Matt.

"How was it? How did you react? What did you do?" he asked her.

"I basically figured it all out on my own, but part of me still didn't quite believe it. Nothing made sense to me," Elena said taking a breath and taking herself back to the year before. "I went to his house and before I could pound on the door he'd already opened it. I asked him what he was, I was practically yelling at him. He knew from the way I was acting that I had figured everything out. He told me that I knew- which I did, but like I told you, I was freaked out and I didn't believe it right at the same time as believing it. I told him that I didn't know, because what I had found out wasn't possible. I said it couldn't be possible," Elena said, caught up in the memory.

"He told me that everything I knew and that every belief that I had was about to change. He asked me if I was ready for that. I just repeated my question of asking what he was. He stared at me for a moment and then he just said it. He said 'I'm a vampire.' And when he said it, it was like it all finally sunk in. I believed it and I was freaked. I had to get out of there- at that point I was asking myself why I'd went there in the first place. I said that I shouldn't have gone there, just letting my thoughts out at that point. Stefan could tell that I was scared. I started to back away and he was like 'No, please.' I wasn't having any of that at that point because nothing was right in my head then," she said looking at Matt.

"I started to run away but he was in front of me in a flash. I didn't know how someone could be so fast. I kept trying to move away from him. He begged me not to be scared of him. He told me that there were things that I needed to know and understand, but I was scared, I wouldn't let him touch me- he tried to explain but I just kept moving away. I kept saying 'let me go' and after a couple tries he just let me run to my car. I didn't let him explain anything. I drove back home and did some pacing back and forth in my room and then all of a sudden Stefan was there. He was desperate to make me understand," Elena sighed remembering Stefan's desperation to make her understand that he wanted no harm to come to her.

"I ran for my door and of course he had the door shut before I could run out screaming like a crazy person. I was facing the door and Stefan was behind me with one hand on the door, keeping it shut so that I would hear him out and not run away. I wouldn't turn around to face him because I had so many thoughts flooding my mind. My heart was beating like crazy, my breathing was weird. He knew I was scared. He tried to reassure me. He swore he'd never hurt me and that I was safe with him. I finally turned around to look at him- I believed him when he said he didn't want to hurt me but I was still scared. I still couldn't deal with everything though. I needed to just be alone so I could breathe and try to process everything. I told him that if he meant me no harm, he would leave. He looked so sad, Matt. He did leave, though. He gave me the space I needed that night. Long story short, I got over being scared after not too long and I wanted him- I wanted him back. I loved him. I'd fallen for him, you know?" Elena said, smiling giving her friend a shrug.

"So I'm not crazy for kind of freaking out a bit when I first found out, then," Matt said.

"Not at all," Elena said, giving his hand a squeeze. "I'd think you were crazy if you had no reaction at all. What are you feeling? Do you know what you're going to do? You know that she loves you, right?"

"I _do_know that she loves me and I love her- I still totally love her," Matt said, focusing on his hands. "But what does her being a vampire mean? I need your help because I need to know if I can actually do this."

"Okay, so I'm not one of them so obviously I can't answer everything for you, but I can answer some stuff I'm sure. What do you want to know specifically?"

"The blood thing," Matt said.

"Umm okay, that wasn't very specific so I don't know if this is what you wanna hear. Are you worried about her taking your blood? If you're worried about that, you don't really need to be. They don't _need_ to actually drink human blood. They can survive from animal blood, but they're stronger if they drink the human stuff and it's not the easiest for them. Even if they drink the human stuff though, no one actually has to get hurt. They can drink from blood bags, like from the hospital," Elena said.

"What if they actually drink from a human- what happens?" Matt asked her, finally looking up.

"It doesn't mean that person gets killed, if that's what you're asking," Elena said.

"People _can _get killed though, right?" Matt asked.

Elena took a breath. "Yeah. A person could die if the vampire took too much blood or if they were too vicious in the way that they took the blood," Elena said, a bit awkwardly. "But Caroline wouldn't do that to you, she's got things under control. She wouldn't hurt you. And this conversation might not even ever be relevant. It's not like you have to let her have your blood anyway. That's totally your business, you know. If you feel comfortable doing that, that's your business. That would be something for you and her to deal with."

"Wow," Matt said. "I can't believe I'm having this conversation right now."

Elena laughed a bit. "It's a lot to deal with. I'm happy to answer stuff for you- but we both know who you really need to talk to is Caroline. Trust me, I get that you're freaked out, but you should talk to her about this stuff, even if you think it's weird or crazy or stupid. You'll feel better when you talk to her and ask her the questions you have. Just remember that you guys love each other."

"I could do it, right? I love her and I don't want someone else with her. I could do it, couldn't I Elena?" Matt asked her.

"Yeah," Elena said, smiling, feeling a rush of affection for Matt. "You could do it. Look at me. I love Stefan. I love being with him. It might not be easy at first, but why not give it a shot? She loves you, you love her. Try."

"Can you go wake her up?" Matt blurted out. "I need to talk to her and I need to do it quickly before I chicken out."

Elena was dashing up the stairs before he even finished what he was saying.

"Wake up Care Bear. Matt's here. He wants to talk to you," Elena said, slightly shaking Caroline. "Wake up missy."

Bonnie opened her eyes before Caroline. Bonnie nudged Caroline and joined in, echoing Elena. "Wake up Care."

Caroline finally opened her eyes. "What?"

"Get up. Matt's here. He wants to talk to you," Elena said again.

Caroline was wide awake now at the mention of Matt. She practically flew out of the bed and headed straight downstairs.

Elena and Bonnie kept their laughter quiet. Caroline had never woken up so fast in her life.

"Do I smell food?" Bonnie asked Elena.

"Yeah, I was up early and feeling sweet so I was gonna make you guys pancakes, very very carefully," Elena said with a laugh. "Only two got made cuz Matt came by. Matt's eating one of them. Apparently the pancake is edible."

"I'm very proud," Bonnie chuckled.

Caroline was back in the room and moving like a blur, changing into clothes. "We're gonna take a walk and talk," she said and both Bonnie and Elena grinned. "I think this is going to be a good conversation," she said to her friends before heading back downstairs.

"Have fun," they told her.

"Is it gonna be a good conversation?" Bonnie asked Elena as she started to fix the bed

"From the way he sounded a minute ago, I think it's gonna be a good conversation," Elena said, smiling, helping her.

"I hope it is," Bonnie said. "They're adorable together. And they're good for each other."

"Speaking of good for each other- any plans with my brother today?" Elena asked with a smile. "Oh and keep explanations to a PG rating please," Elena added quickly.

Bonnie laughed. "I'm gonna see him later. We're gonna hang for a bit."

"That's good," Elena said happily. "I really am happy about you guys. I love you two."

Bonnie blew a kiss at Elena. "What are _you_up to tonight?" Bonnie asked.

"Stefan's taking me somewhere tonight. It's a surprise," Elena said.

"Ooooh, nice."

"Alone time with Stefan is _very _nice," Elena said with a grin. "But I hate surprises. I hate not knowing. I'm gonna see if I can get a clue out of him."

Bonnie just laughed. "Surprises can be great," she said as she went to open the curtain.

"Yes, for _other _people," Elena said, putting on a pouty face.

"Awww! Come here," Bonnie said.

"I guess the conversation didn't last long," Elena said, laughing with a huge smile on her face.

Matt and Caroline were locked in _quite_ the kiss.

Elena and Bonnie looked at each other, a glint of mischief in their eyes.

"Should we?" Elena asked.

"Yes," Bonnie said, chuckling.

Bonnie and Elena opened the window. "Get a room!" they yelled

Caroline and Matt turned toward the window. Matt grinned and Caroline stuck out her tongue.

Elena hadn't noticed until right then. But someone was walking on the sidewalk. It was a guy. He looked like he was the same age as her. When Bonnie and Elena yelled, the guy looked up and his jaw dropped a little bit. He stared at Elena for a minute and then smiled up at her. Elena smiled back, not wanting to be rude, but she was a little weirded out by the jaw-drop.

"Okay, we'll leave you alone now. Go back to making out," Bonnie said to Caroline and Matt. "Have fun!"

The guy on the sidewalk was still staring at Elena and Bonnie noticed. Caroline and Matt were too absorbed in each other that they were paying no attention to what was around them.

"Who's that?" she asked.

"I have no clue. Let's just close the window," Elena said, moving away from the window.

Bonnie closed the window and moved away from it too. She waited about thirty seconds before going back to check if the guy had walked away.

"He's still there, Elena," Bonnie said. "You sure you don't know him?"

"I've never seen him before," Elena said.

"I think you've got an admirer Elena," Bonnie said.

Elena groaned. "Oh yay!" she said sarcastically, coming back to the window to see for herself that the guy was still there and staring up. He was.

"I'm gonna tell him to go away," Bonnie said, about to open the window again, but apparently there was no need. Caroline and Matt had disentangled themselves from each other and noticed the guy staring up at Bonnie's window and said something to him.

He looked up once more at Elena before finally continuing on his way.

Elena wanted to know who this guy was. Bonnie said that this guy was an admirer, but the way he was looking at Elena was like it was more than that. It was like her knew her, like she was supposed to know him too.

"He's gone. It's all good now," Bonnie said.

"Yeah. It's good," Elena said, putting on a smile.

She was probably just being weird, but she couldn't shake the feeling that this wasn't going to be the last time she saw this guy.


	21. Chapter 21

o-0-o-0-o Thanks for the reviews last chapter. Here's the update. Hope you like it. Leave me a review and let me know what you think. o-0-o-0-o

"Is it just me or are you here early?" Katherine asked as Stefan came into view.

"It's earlier than I usually come."

"Changing it up are you?" she asked.

"I don't think I'm going to be here for about a week, so I'm bringing you the blood now," Stefan said.

"Where are you going?" she asked him.

"Taking Elena somewhere," he said.

"Romantic getaway," she said, trying to sound amused.

Stefan ignored the comment and said. "I don't know if I'm going to be able to come down here as often as I have been."

Katherine's expression changed- it was something involuntary and she quickly went back to her expression of amusement, but Stefan had seen that second of disappointment and he felt a bit bad.

"How come? Did Miss Elena find out you were coming here or something?" she asked, trying to sound casual.

"Pretty much," Stefan said.

"We don't want to upset Elena now do we?" Katherine muttered.

"No, I don't. Not at all," Stefan said seriously.

"So am I gonna go back to starving again?" she asked sarcastically.

"No," he said. "I'll just bring you more when I do come instead of bringing you what I usually do everyday. And I brought a lot right now."

"Okay," Katherine said, shrugging.

"And you can still talk to me the other way every night if you need to tell me anything," he said.

"Stefan!" she hissed.

"What?" he asked her.

"What if Elijah's around?" she said silently, mouthing the words.

"He's not here," Stefan told her. "Bonnie did a sensing spell. He's not around."

"That's handy," Katherine said. "Speaking of Bonnie, Lucy's dead. How's Bonnie planning on getting me out of here on her own?"

"She says she's got it under control. She said she'll be able to do it," Stefan said.

"Listen, I'll give the chick some credit. She's strong and I don't doubt for a second that the girl is gonna be badass in a year or two. She's a Bennett. Emily did not produce a weak line, but I don't think Bonnie can bring down the seal and find a way around Elijah's compulsion of keeping me in here on her own."

"She said that she's got it all under control and she sounded like she meant it. She's serious about this. This involves Elena- Bonnie's not gonna let anything happen to her best friend if there's anything she can do about it," Stefan told Katherine.

"Okay," Katherine said nonchalantly.

"Here," Stefan said, passing her the bottles of blood.

"Thanks," she said. "And do me a favour- tell Bonnie to come see me later."

"Why?" Stefan asked.

"I know a lot about witches. Maybe I know something that she doesn't. I'll help the witch any way I can because I want out of this damn tomb," she said. "I have some revenge to start planning for Elijah and Klaus."

"_Start_ planning?" Stefan said with a little laugh.

"Well, I've been planning for centuries, _but_ this time I can plan and know that I'll be able to follow through," Katherine said with a grin.

"Before I go get ready, do you need anything else?" Stefan asked.

_You._"I don't need anything here really, but since you asked if I needed anything, do you think you could go back to where I was staying and grab the rest of my stuff. The woman's gonna get rid of it soon because I paid her only up until a certain date."

"Yeah, I can do that. I'll see if I can store them at Bonnie's place," Stefan said.

"Okay. Have fun tonight while I sit here and contemplate poking my eyes out from the boredom," Katherine said sarcastically.

"Be patient. You'll be out of here soon enough," Stefan said. "Let me know if anything happens," Stefan said, heading out of the tomb.

o-o-o-o-o-o-o

"You're sweet Jer, but seriously, I just want casual and normal today. Let's go to the Grill and catch a movie or something," Bonnie said. "You should be happy. See how easy to please I am," Bonnie laughed. "Okay, I'll see you around 6. Bye Jeremy."

Bonnie hung up the phone and went to look through her closet to see what she wanted to wear later. She was still in her pyjamas and had no intention of changing into her clothes until much closer to the time she'd be leaving.

Bonnie's phone rang and she saw that it was Stefan who was calling.

"Hey Stefan," she said, answering the phone.

"Hi Bonnie. Are you busy right now?"

"No."

"You alone?"

"Yep," she said.

"You mind if I stop by for a minute?" he asked.

"Not at all, be my guest," she said.

"Okay, I'll be at your house in a few minutes."

"Okay, see you in a few," she said, hanging up.

There was a knock at Bonnie's door pretty much as soon as she hung up.

"A few minutes huh?" she said laughing. "More like a few seconds," she said, opening the door.

It wasn't Stefan though.

"What the hell?" Bonnie said, a little bit shocked.

"I apologize for startling you."

"I'm sorry- why are you here?" Bonnie asked, trying not to sound too rude.

Elena's new admirer/stalker was at Bonnie's door.

"Trust me, I understand that this is very awkward, but I was wondering if your friend was here."

"No, she's not here. What do you want with her?" Bonnie said.

"Could you tell me where she is?' he asked.

"Are you serious? Dude, you're creepy," Bonnie said. "I'm not telling you anything about her. I don't know you."

"I promise you, I mean your friend no harm- in fact I want to protect her. I want to help her," the guy said.

"Well, that's really great and all, but I _still_ know nothing about you, so we're back to me not telling you anything," Bonnie said, hand on her hip.

"You're a good friend to be looking out for her. My name is Anthony. I _promise _you that I mean her no harm. I want to make sure she's safe. Just tell her to come down- I'm sure she's in this house. I just need to speak to her."

"She's not here, Anthony," Bonnie said, getting angry.

"Just invite me in so I can see for myself," he said looking into her eyes. "I mean her no harm."

Bonnie reached out quickly and touched his arm. "You're a freakin' vampire," Bonnie hissed. "And you're trying to compel me. Newsflash, you're not getting in my house and you can't compel me. Stay the hell away from my friend."

Anthony was taken aback. "I only want to help her," he repeated. "Honestly."

"You'll forgive me for not believing the guy who just tried to compel me," Bonnie said sarcastically. "She doesn't need any help from you. She's a strong girl and she already has people who will protect her if need be, one of them happens to be walking this way right now. See that guy on the side walk- her _vampire_ _boyfriend-_he's one of the one's who'll protect her if she ever needs it."

And then Anthony was gone in a flash.

"Why the _hell_can there not be one damn day of normalcy? Why?" Bonnie hissed as Stefan approached her doorstep.

"Who was that?" Stefan asked.

"Just get in," Bonnie said.

"Are you okay?" Stefan asked, concerned.

"Your girlfriend's got some vampire stalker/admirer/wannabe protector/ potential predator and he was just at my doorstep and tried to compel me to let him in so that he could see if she was here or not," Bonnie said, pacing back and forth. "And I think he's really old cuz I tried to do my aneurism thing and he didn't even flinch- it didn't even register with him. He's not like Elijah, I know he's not that old, but maybe like Katherine."

"You're okay, right?" Stefan asked.

"Yes," she said, taking a deep breath.

"Okay, tell me everything about this guy."

So Bonnie explained all that had happened involving this Anthony guy.

"What do you really think of this guy?" Stefan asked her.

"I think he's a damn freak," Bonnie said, running her hand through her hair. "Maybe he meant what he was saying about protecting her and helping her, I dunno, he was pretty adamant about that. But what the hell would he want to protect her for- Elena doesn't know him... What if he thinks she's Katherine," Bonnie said suddenly. "That would make more sense."

Before Stefan could say anything in response, there was a knock on the door again.

"Could you see who it is please?" Bonnie said to Stefan, tiredly.

Stefan went to the door and once again, Bonnie heard Anthony's voice.

"You're the boyfriend?" Anthony asked Stefan.

"That depends on who you're talking about," Stefan said.

"What do you mean?" Anthony asked.

"What's the name of the girl you say you want to help out?" Bonnie said, coming to the door.

"Kat- Katherine Pierce of course," Anthony said as if it was the most obvious thing in the world.

"Then _no,_I'm not her boyfriend," Stefan said.

"What do you mean, this one said you were," Anthony said, nodding in Bonnie's direction.

"That's because I thought the girl you're looking for is my friend. The girl you saw this morning is not Katherine. My friend is human. She's not the girl you're looking for."

"Don't lie to me. I know that face. I _know_her face. It's been stuck in my head for years."

"She's not lying," Stefan said. "They look exactly alike, but Elena is not Katherine."

"How do they look exactly alike?" Anthony asked. "You cannot look that much like someone without being related to them."

"They _are_related," Bonnie said.

There was a change in Anthony's expression but he quickly caught himself and shifted back to a more calm look.

"But her family died. They were killed," Anthony said.

"Obviously not all," Bonnie said.

"Her child must have lived," Anthony said with a smile.

"And a whole bunch of babies through that line later- we have Elena," Bonnie said.

"How do you know Katherine?" Stefan asked.

"How do _you _know Katherine?" Anthony asked Stefan, avoiding the question.

"I'm with Stefan, how do you know her?" Bonnie asked.

"It doesn't matter how I know her, what matters is that I love her and I want to help her. There are powerful vampires who want her dead, and I won't let that happen," Anthony said, his hand clenching into a fist at the thought of someone trying to kill her.

"She knows that Klaus wants revenge on her. She's not here though," Stefan said. "She left this town," he told Anthony. Anthony could be telling the truth, but Stefan couldn't know for sure. He wasn't going to tell him anything about Katherine.

"Do you know if she will come back here?"

"I don't know," Stefan said.

"I will leave to look for her then. Maybe she's in the next town. I need to find her. I won't let them get her," Anthony said. "I'm sorry for my actions earlier. I'm sorry if I scared you. Truly, I meant you no harm- I just needed to see her and I thought she was here," he said to Bonnie. "Please tell Elena I didn't mean to make her uncomfortable," he said to both of them as he walked away.

Bonnie plopped down onto the couch as Stefan shut the door.

"Okay, so now that _that _is over and he's gone, _hopefully_, what did you need to tell me?" Bonnie asked.

"Katherine wants you to go see her and I was wondering if I could store these here," Stefan said, holding up a bunch of bags.

"What are those?"

"Katherine's things from where she was staying,' Stefan said.

"Why does she want to talk to me?"

"She says she knows a lot about witches and because she really wants to get out of the tomb that she'll help you if she can."

"Oh yay," Bonnie said sarcastically. "And yeah, I guess we can just shove her stuff somewhere in the basement."

"You gonna go see her?" Stefan asked.

"Yeah," Bonnie said, "But not til a bit later. I have a big headache and I'm thinking of a nap even though I haven't been awake too long. Tonight is supposed to be about normalcy and fun and I want it all to be headache free so I'm going to knock out for a bit."

"What are your plans for tonight?" Stefan asked.

"Dinner and a movie with Jeremy," Bonnie said.

"Nice," he said. "That's good. I hope you have fun. I'll get out of your hair in just a second, but I just wanted to tell you that if that guy actually doesn't leave and he comes back and bothers you, you can call me or Damon."

Bonnie smiled. "Don't worry about it Stefan. You have a fun night with Elena to focus on. Go get ready," she said pointing to the door.

"Actually, as long as nothing happens and Elena's up for it, I'm planning on trying to make the little getaway a week-long thing. Elena doesn't know yet, I only told her one day because I don't think she would have agreed to be away for a week because she's Elena and always worries about everyone. We've got school off this week and Elena said that Jenna's not going to be home because of some school thing for herself so I'm gonna see if I can pull off a week away," Stefan said grinning.

"Well, I wish you luck. You guys deserve some fun. Now get out of here," she said, laughing.

"Have a good night, Bonnie."

"You too Stefan," Bonnie said, closing the door behind him.

Bonnie wondered if Anthony was really leaving and if what he was saying was true. She really hoped so because they didn't need anything else to have to be concerned about.


	22. Chapter 22

o-0-o-0- Thanks so much for the reviews last chapter. Here's chapter 22. I'm in exam period now so I haven't had as much time as I would have liked to work on the story this week which is why this chapter is up a bit later than I usually update. I put a lot into this chapter, and it's more of a long one so I really hope you will enjoy it. Please leave me a review and let me know what you think. I love hearing if people are enjoying the story o-0-o-0-

"You really do listen to everything I say, don't you?" Elena asked Stefan with a smile.

"I try," Stefan said with a shrug, happy to see the smile on Elena's face.

"How did you find this place?" Elena asked, looking around.

"I didn't exactly find it," Stefan started before getting cut off.

"Mr. Stefan Salvatore," an older woman with a smile on her face exclaimed as she approached Stefan and Elena. "A young person on time- I am very impressed."

"Mrs. Montgomery, you're doing me a favour .Of course I'm on time," he said.

"Oh please, _I'm _doing _you_ a favour? You saved my life, young man. This is the least I could do. I'm very grateful."

"It was nothing," Stefan said.

Mrs. Montgomery hushed Stefan and turned to Elena. "Your boyfriend is a hero," she said firmly. "Where are my manners? How rude of me. I'm Mary Montgomery. Lovely to meet you, darling," she said, extending her hand to Elena.

"It's very nice to meet you, too. I'm Elena Gilbert," "Elena said, taking the woman's hand

"Elena- I happen to love that name. A beautiful name for a beautiful girl," Mrs. Montgomery said.

"Thank you," Elena said softly.

"Alright, I think I've done enough talking. Let me show you around and to where you'll be staying," Mary said, walking ahead of Stefan and Elena.

"What did you save her from, oh Mr. Hero? And when?" Elena asked in a whisper, grinning.

"Some creep tried to mug her and when she handed over her purse, he put a gun to her head, he was going to shoot her. I was walking by and I heard a woman screaming and I saw him standing over her. I went over and made sure he didn't get to do what he planned to. It happened a bit less than 2 years ago," Stefan said.

"So, if you're into this sort of thing, out here from 9-10 we do the roasting and toasting of marshmallows over the fire followed by some spooky stories," Mary said.

Elena grinned at Stefan. "We're _so _coming here for that," she said.

"And _this _is where you'll be staying," Mary said after a couple minutes as they arrived in front of the cabin. "I'll let you two look around in there for yourselves. Make yourselves comfortable and let me know if you need anything. There's a phone in there with the number to dial me at the main house. Get comfy, relax, take a look at the menu. You'll be getting a call in about an hour on what you'll want for dinner. We ask you a bit early so that the cooks have enough time to get everything ready. And I think that's all I need to tell you- so I'll leave you now. And I'll see you out there later tonight. Bye for now," Mary said, leaving Stefan and Elena alone.

"How long before we get that call?" Elena asked Stefan with a grin as they walked into the cabin.

"About an hour," Stefan said, grinning back. "What should we do while we wait?" Stefan asked with a smirk, locking the door.

"Each other, of course," Elena said, flashing a smirk Stefan's way.

Stefan's lips were crashing down onto Elena's before she could blink and then she was tugging at his clothes. "These have got to go- _now," _she said.

"I was just gonna say the same thing to you," he told her, in between kisses.

Before long both sets of their clothes lay in a pile on the floor as Stefan and Elena had moved to the bed.

"We need to do these nightly getaways more often," Elena said, words catching in her throat as a shiver of pleasure ran through her as Stefan kissed down her neck.

o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-

"I hear you wanted to see me," Bonnie said, walking into the tomb.

"Bonnie, Bonnie, Bonnie," Katherine said as the young witch came into view. "What are you up to?" Katherine asked.

"What are you talking about?" Bonnie asked.

"We both know that you're not strong enough to get me out of here on your own yet- a year or two from now, with you being a Bennett and all I'm sure you could do it, but now, you can't get me out of here on your own, especially considering that Elijah's compulsion is involved. What are you up to?" Katherine said.

"I'm getting you out of here," was all Bonnie said.

"I don't doubt that you've figured out a way to do it, but I'm not dumb enough to believe that you're not doing something stupid or getting some kind of other help to do it," Katherine said. "What are you up to?" she asked again.

"Are you asking me if I'm using dark magic?" Bonnie said.

"Well, are you?"

"Why do you care how I'm going about this?" Bonnie asked.

Katherine took a deep breath. "Just don't be an idiot. Don't dabble with the dark stuff. You can get really strong really quick, but that crap can kill you in the end."

Bonnie could see that she was annoying Katherine and she didn't care- she could tell that there was something else, something Katherine didn't want to tell her.

"What do you care if I get killed in the end as long as long as you get out of here," Bonnie said.

Katherine didn't answer her question, she only rolled her eyes.

"Well?" Bonnie said.

"You're trying to get more power fast. Ask Stefan or Damon to help you, at least that way you don't have to delve into dark magic," Katherine said, trying to sound casual. "Actually, ask Damon, not Stefan."

Bonnie wanted to smirk, Katherine was pretty much suggesting the plan Bonnie already had.

"Why?" Bonnie asked.

"If you're trying to get more powerful on your own in a small amount of time and not going near the dark magic, and you push too much you can die or just really drain yourself for awhile. Get Damon to help you. Have him with you when you practice so that when it all gets to be too much he can give you his blood and you can start right back up again, full of energy, getting stronger."

This was already Bonnie's plan.

"Why Damon?" Bonnie asked.

"Cuz Stefan won't like the idea of you doing so much magic that you're at the brink of death or draining yourself," Katherine said. "But if you ask Damon to do it and he's still a man of his word, he should help you even if he doesn't like the idea."

"What do you mean by that?" Bonnie asked, fishing for more information.

"UGGH!" Katherine mumbled. She had no desire to tell Bonnie about her past with Emily and didn't want the young witch to think that she gave a crap about her. Katherine far preferred to keep things seeming like she couldn't care less what happened, but Bonnie was being stubborn.

"I'm telling you this one time and that's it, got it?" Katherine said to Bonnie. "And don't interrupt me."

"Okay."

"I don't like you. I don't care about you, but Emily was my friend and you are one of Emily's, so because of that I'm not exactly sitting here hoping that you die. Emily wouldn't have wanted you _anywhere_ near the dark stuff, so stay the hell away from it. Don't insult your bloodline by being a dumbass and getting yourself killed by magic you don't understand," Katherine said.

Bonnie took that all in. She could tell that Katherine didn't enjoy telling her that, but she could tell that she had meant what she said about Emily being her friend.

"How does Damon fit into this, though?" Bonnie asked.

"In 1864 when he thought that I was going to be killed, Damon went to Emily and asked her to help me, to keep me safe and prevent them from really killing me and in turn he would keep Emily's children, and their children and so on safe. He promised to protect her bloodline. _You _are part of Emily's bloodline and _I _am still here- therefore, even though he now hates my guts, Damon _owes_ you protection. Emily kept her word, even though I wasn't in the tomb like she led him to believe, she did help keep me safe in another way," Katherine said quickly, not wanting to talk about this with Bonnie or anyone.

Bonnie was about to press Katherine further but she suddenly felt Elijah's presence slowly approaching.

"He's coming," Bonnie said, barely whispering.

If Elijah was walking at human pace like she thought he was, he would arrive in a minute or two.

Bonnie worked herself up for a good cry and Katherine watched her, amused. Bonnie rolled her eyes at the other woman.

"Why couldn't you have _really _died back in 1864?" Bonnie screamed. "You ruin everything," Bonnie hissed, hearing Elijah enter. Of course, she pretended like she had no clue he was there. "I wish you were dead."

"Stop whining like a little bitch," Katherine said, sounding bored. "Why couldn't it have been you to die instead of Lucy- at least she was fun."

"Don't say Lucy's name," Bonnie yelled. "It's your fault she's dead!"

"How the hell do you figure that, genius?" Katherine shot back.

"Everything is your damn fault in one way or another," Bonnie said. "Do you know that I haven't been able to sleep properly for the longest time? I see my grandmother every night in my dreams- every damn night, and you don't give a shit that you're the reason she's dead" Bonnie yelled, letting some crying make its way into the yelling.

"Get over it. Stop acting like a little kid. Grow the hell up," Katherine said.

"Look at you, you evil bitch! You're still smiling. If it's the last thing I do, I _will_make sure to wipe that smile off your face," Bonnie hissed, squeezing her eyes shut, trying to draw out more tears as she knew Elijah was approaching her now.

Bonnie felt a hand on her shoulder and she made sure that she looked frightened as she turned around to see who it was.

"Oh my God!" she exclaimed.

"I'm sorry for startling you, Bonnie. What's wrong?" Elijah said gently.

"I hate her. I hate her so much, Elijah. Do you know that I haven't had one night of proper sleep for so long? I want to wipe the smile from her face so badly, even if it's only for a minute," Bonnie said intensely, getting ready to move on to what she was about to say next. She really hoped it would work.

"Well, you know that I do not like her, correct?" Elijah said.

Bonnie nodded in response.

"Let's see if there's anything I can do to help you wipe the smile off her face," Elijah said.

"You're going to think I'm a horrible person if I tell you what I'd love to happen right now," Bonnie said quietly, looking down at her hands, trying to look as innocent as possible.

Katherine watched and fought the urge to grin.

"I wouldn't think you're horrible. You've gone through quite a lot of things and your cousin just died. I understand the desire you have. Tell me what you'd like and we'll see if I can help," Elijah said.

"Elena hates Katherine but I don't think she would be very proud of me right now. If you help me get this bit of meanness and anger out, could you not tell Elena? I love her and I wouldn't want her opinion of me to lessen," Bonnie said, biting her lip.

Katherine watched in amusement. _You're good, Bennett._

Elijah smiled. "I would keep my lips sealed."

"What I'm going to ask you probably sounds crazy or weird and you can tell me you won't do it and I won't be angry with you, in the end I might just end up thanking you because I might not be too proud of myself later on," Bonnie said, and then she motioned Elijah closer and lowered her voice to a whisper. "I want to see you give her hope and then I want to see you rip it away. I want to watch her face. I want to see the smile vanish from her face."

Elijah grinned at the young witch. She had a bit of a dark side, and he liked it.

"I want you to tell her that she's allowed to leave the tomb," Bonnie said, pausing to watch Elijah's reaction.

Elijah raised his eyebrow.

"I want you to tell her that she can leave the tomb and I want you to wait for a few seconds so I can see the look of pleasure that I know will cross her face, and then I want you to clarify your statement and that will definitely wipe the smile off her face," Bonnie said with a little grin. "I want you to add on to the end of that 'when Bonnie brings down the seal and lets you out.' "

"Which will be never," Elijah said.

"Exactly," Bonnie said. "She's staying in there, and the world will be a better place because of it."

"I like you Miss Bennett," Elijah chuckled. "You've got fire. Let's do this then, shall we?"

Elijah walked over closer to Katherine and Bonnie followed. Bonnie mouthed 'play along' to Katherine.

"I've been rethinking my decision about compelling you to stay here, Katerina. I've changed my mind. You are free to leave the tomb," Elijah said in an amused tone.

A huge smile spread across Katherine's face (she supposed this was what she was supposed to do). "Thank you, Elijah," she said happily as she made her way towards the barrier.

"Let me clarify that Katerina, you are free to leave this tomb when our friend, young Miss Bennett here, brings down the seal and lets you out herself," Elijah said with laughter.

Katherine took this as her cue to become pissed off. "I hate you! I hate you both!" she screamed, grabbing one of the larger rocks and throwing it at Elijah's head. "You're a dirty little bitch, Bonnie Bennett," she hissed.

Bonnie was jumping for joy inside. She couldn't believe that Elijah had bought her line so easily. Now she didn't have to worry about finding a magical route around Elijah's compulsion! She wanted to tell Elijah that he was a stupid idiot for someone who's been around for so long but she kept her mouth shut and continued playing the role she'd created. Bonnie smiled happily at Elijah.

"Does that make you feel better?" he asked her with a smirk.

"I'm a terrible person for saying this, I know- but that _definitely _made me feel better. Thank you... and I'm sorry that you saw me like this. I'm really not such a bad person normally, but I've got so much rage for her inside of me. My grandmother raised me and took care of me and loved me. I loved her very much," Bonnie said, serious about this part. She hated bringing up her grandmother because it hurt when she thought too much of her no longer being around, but she knew that her grandmother being brought up would make Elijah believe in the intensity of her hatred for Katherine. Elijah, the idiot, didn't know that Bonnie actually blamed him and Klaus for it all at this point when she did want to place the blame somewhere. "And I don't have her here anymore because of Katherine."

"You're not terrible. We all need someone to blame, and even the most kind-hearted person can act in moment's of anger and a desire to make someone else hurt," Elijah said simply and Bonnie smiled a bit.

"Are you ready to leave here now?" Elijah asked her.

_No, not really. I want to tell her about that Anthony guy, but I can do that tomorrow I guess._

"Yeah, I'm ready to get out of here," she said.

"How about we leave together then?" Elijah said.

"Sure," Bonnie said, heading out of the tomb.

As soon as Elijah walked out of the tomb, Katherine allowed herself to smile the wide smile she'd been holding in. Bonnie totally had Elijah in the palm of her hand. Katherine had been worried about Elijah's compulsion even if Bonnie could bring down the seal, but now that worry was gone. Bonnie had gotten the idiot to break his compulsion command.

Katherine had been bored only minutes before Bonnie came down, but now, she was nothing but thrilled because she'd be able to get out of this hole in the ground soon. She couldn't wait.

o-o-o-o-o-o-o

It had been five days. They had been here for five days. Stefan had talked her into it and she was so happy.

"Why have we not been here before, mister?" Elena asked Stefan as she traced Stefan's hand with her finger as she lay across his chest.

"Because I literally only found out the day before we first got here," Stefan told her as he ran his fingers through her hair. "Mary was in Mystic Falls visiting her sister-in-law and she saw me and remembered me and said that she had never got to repay me for helping her out and then she told me that she owned this little cabin getaway type of thing and told me to come by anytime. Trust me, if I knew about this place before we would have been here much sooner than this."

"This place is perfect, Stefan. It's just us. We're away from Mystic Falls but we can get back there in a flash if we need to. I feel so relaxed right now. I want to come here again soon, okay?"

"We can come here as often as you want. We can come here forever," he told her.

"Forever," Elena said quietly."Are we gonna have forever?" she asked even more quietly.

"Do you want to talk about that?" he asked her gently.

Elena shook her head. "I can't believe I even said that. Wow. We're _so _not having this conversation right now," she said, laughing a bit. "We're here and happy and care-free. We don't need the serious stuff right now."

"Do you _have _an opinion on forever?" Stefan asked her.

Elena got off of Stefan. "I just need a bit of air. Can you just give me a minute?" she said practically running outside.

She shut the door behind her and just leaned against it and took a deep breath. She didn't know why she just freaked out like that. She didn't know why she had tears streaming down her face.

"I know you said you need a minute, but-"

Stefan saw that she was crying. "Hey," he said softly. "I'm sorry if I said something wrong or-"

"You didn't say anything wrong," she told him, wiping her eyes. "I'm just a little nuts right now."

"Come inside Elena. It's cold out here, you're gonna get sick in just my t-shirt," he said, taking her hand.

"Oh my God," Elena said, looking down at herself. "I forgot I'm not wearing pants," she said, following him back into the cabin.

"Do you think you can tell me what's wrong? Please," he said.

"Katherine," Elena said and Stefan looked confused.

"When you were with her, did you want to turn?" she asked him.

"We don't need to talk about her. I know you don't like hearing her name."

"I'm serious, Stefan. I wanna know."

"Well, I thought I was in love with her, I thought that I wanted to be with her forever, and I knew what forever meant, but I never actually really thought about what it truly was, you know?"

"Were you ever scared?" Elena asked him.

"I don't know. After I turned, I had nothing left tying me to the world of humans- the ones I cared about were dead or no longer human. There was nothing really for me to fear about forever when the things that would have possibly tied me to Mystic Falls no longer existed for me to miss."

"_I'm _scared," Elena said quietly, sitting down on the couch.

"Tell me what you're thinking. I wanna know what's going on in there," he said, pointing at her head. "Honestly, tell me whatever you're feeling and don't worry about what you think I might think. What are you scared about exactly?"

"A bunch of things, actually and it's just like all of a sudden... I'm scared that I'm going to lose you one day. I'm scared that one day, there's gonna be another girl and it won't be me. I'm scared about not having much time with you left. If I stay living and breathing Elena- what do we have- a few years? I'm scared that one day I might get so old that I'll forget that I ever knew you," Elena said, while tears dropped from her eyes.

Stefan was about to say something but Elena continued on.

"And then okay, let's flip the coin. Let's say I become like you- do you _literally_ want forever with me? Could I bear to watch Jenna, Bonnie and Jeremy die eventually?" Elena said, a fresh batch of tears falling as the thought ran through her mind. "Could I do it? Could I be good or would I not be able to control myself? Could I just completely forget about the things I could have as a human that I couldn't have if I were like you- even if I don't really think about them very often?" Elena said, getting up, wiping away at her eyes again.

"Come here," Stefan said, walking towards her. "I want to tell you something really important."

She walked over to him and he pulled her into a hug.

"This isn't a life I'd wish on you- having a side to you that you'd sometimes have to fight to keep in control, a side that could lead you to hurt people and then have to be stuck with pain and guilt unless you just turn off your emotions. I would _never _wish pain on you, ever," he said, not breaking his embrace from Elena. "But, I _love _you- more than anything. So if you're gonna ask me if I want you forever, the answer is yes. _Absolutely _yes. I want you always. That's my selfish answer."

"Would you be hurt if I eventually decided that I didn't want to be, or just couldn't be like you?" Elena asked him, making no effort to move out of his arms. She was perfectly happy where she was. "Would I hurt you if I told you that?"

"I want you to understand something, okay?" Stefan said, placing a kiss on her forehead.

Elena nodded, looking up at him.

"I would _never _ hold it against you if you didn't want this life. I will take whatever time you'll give me, and when, or if the day comes that you think that it's time for you to end this and I put up a fight, just remember that I love you, that I'll love you forever- and that if I seem angry and hurt, and if maybe I need a bit of space afterwards- know that I don't hate you. Know that I could never hate you. Know that I _don't _ hold it against you to want a normal life, to get the chance to have kids someday or whatever. Know that I'll come back to where you are eventually. Know that I _will _be there if you need me. Know that no matter what happens that I will always be looking out for you."

Elena wiped at her eyes. She was sure they must be red as hell right now after all the crying she'd just done. "I've never thought so deeply about this stuff. It all just seemed to hit me at once. I don't want to be without you. I have no plans to be without you. This forever stuff, it really just sunk in today, though. I don't want to think about that anymore right now. And I didn't mean to just ruin the great mood we were both in. What I know for sure, without any doubt is that I want you- that I love you. I don't know why I just had this mini-meltdown."

"It's okay," Stefan said. "You're allowed to be freaked out and scared and melt down a bit. This stuff is a lot to deal with. I understand that. We don't have to think anymore about this stuff if you don't want to."

"You think I have my mind made up, don't you?" Elena asked him, pulling away from him slightly to look at him better. "I can see it in your face. You think that I'm ready and prepared right now to one day come to you and say that this needs to be over."

"It's okay Elena."

Elena just smiled. "I think you _greatly _underestimate how much I love you, Stefan."

"I know you love me, I do," he said, returning the smile. "But I also know how much it is to actually give up your _life. _That's a huge deal, Elena."

"Giving you up, not getting to have you with me, _that's _a huge deal too, Stefan."

"We'll do whatever you want, Elena. If you want to become a vampire, I will _not _discourage you, I already told you I want you forever- I would just want you to be _sure_. I wouldn't want you to do this just because you didn't want to hurt me. If you truly wanted it, I wouldn't oppose it."

"Would _you_ turn me if I asked you to?" Elena asked him quietly. "I would want it to be _your _blood in my system to do it."

"I would give you my blood," he answered.

"If I had a preference on how to umm... make my exit from the land of the living- would you promise me that you'd help me go out the way I want?" she asked, taking a deep breath.

Stefan closed his eyes and nodded. The thought of Elena dead, even knowing that she'd wake up again is an image he couldn't stand to have in his head. It was horrifying.

"Would you stay with me _after _I- umm, after I died," Elena asked, practically whispering. "Would you stay with me until I woke up again?"

"_Of course _I would stay with you. Of course I'd be there when you opened your eyes again. I wouldn't leave you," he said, rubbing her hand.

"Okay," Elena said after a minute. "There it is. We just _the talk. _Wow."

"Yeah, _wow _ just about sums it up," Stefan said.

"We'll see where time takes us, huh?" Elena said with a little smile.

"Yeah," he answered. "We'll see what you decide."

"You know that your never really gonna get rid of me, right? No matter what I decide," Elena said, nudging him a bit. "I'd _never _ let you vanish from my life completely, _never_. I'd find a way to see you, even if you went away. And that's _my _selfishness."

Stefan just grinned. "I don't _want _to get rid of you, so no objections here," he told her.

"Mary called us twenty minutes ago asking what we wanted. That means we've got another 40 minutes before supper comes. I'm gonna go take a bath- that tub looks all kinds of awesome," Elena said, walking to the bathroom.

"I really hope you want company, cuz I am totally joining you," Stefan said, following her.

"Yes I want your company, silly man. That's a given," she said with a smile.

o-o-o-o-o-o-o

"So, maybe you're wondering what the hell I'm doing here- that would be fine because I'm wondering the same damn thing right now," Damon mumbled, pacing back and forth, feeling very awkward. "Then again you're probably not wondering anything because you probably don't know that I'm here since you're dead and all now."

Damon looked down at the ground and didn't really know what else to say or do. "Here," he said, putting some flowers in front of the spot that most other people would never know was basically a grave. "I heard that you liked them. Umm, okay. I'm sorry for what happened. Bye," Damon said, shaking his head, quickly walking off.

o-o-o-o-o-o-o

This was their fifth time out in five days. Bonnie had been having a lot of fun. She wasn't having so much fun, now, though.

"You got a little crush on him," Bonnie said to the girl bringing her and Jeremy their food.

"Maybe," the girl answered, giving Bonnie the seventh dirty look in the past 25 minutes.

"You totally do," Bonnie said. "It's kinda cute, actually- or it would be if you weren't a slutty bitch and he wasn't dating me," Bonnie said with a fake smile.

Jeremy bit his lip to keep from laughing.

The girl gave Bonnie the finger and walked away.

"I _hate _that girl," Bonnie said. "I've hated her since I was 8."

"Forget about her," Jeremy said, letting out a laugh. "Though I do have to say, a little jealousy looks good on you Bonnie."

Bonnie rolled her eyes and let out a small laugh. "I'm not jealous."

"Yeah you were- a little bit," Jeremy teased.

"Maybe," Bonnie said dramatically. "She should keep her hands to herself, that's all I'm saying," Bonnie said with a grin, taking a bite of her food.

o-o-o-o-o-o-

"Aren't they adorable?" Caroline asked Matt.

They were at The Grill too and had just spotted Bonnie and Jeremy on the other side.

"Honestly, I never would have seen those two coming," Matt said. "But they seem good for each other. It's nice to Bonnie happy."

"Okay no more eye-stalking them for us," Caroline chuckled. "What are you gonna get? I don't know what I want yet."

"So you still like normal food?" he asked her.

"It's not quite the same as before, but yeah, I still like the normal stuff."

"Cool," Matt said.

Caroline laughed and kissed him. "You're adorable as hell, did you know that, Matt?"

o-o-o-o-o-o-

Damon tossed the empty bottle of scotch on the road as he approached the girl he had his sights set on. She looked like someone that no one would miss, which was a good thing since Damon wasn't planning on letting this one run away.

He went to Lexi's burial site. He went to see Lexi! What the hell was that about? He killed her. He ended her. What the hell was he doing there with flowers? Why the hell did he bring flowers to the vampire he killed? Elena was making him too soft. Elena made him remember that he loved Stefan even if he hated him at times too. Elena made him feel like crap for killing Stefan's best friend. How the hell could he be good when he still wanted to do bad? How the hell was he supposed to reconcile the fact that he actually wanted to be the decent guy sometimes with the fact that he sometimes wanted to rip people's throats out.

"Hey honey," he called out.

The girl turned around.

"Do you have a cell phone I could use for a second? My battery is dead," he said.

"Yeah, sure," she said. "Just give me a second," she told him as she looked into her purse.

Damon's fangs sunk into her neck before she could find her phone. As he felt her growing weaker by the second, Elena's face flashed in his head and then he suddenly threw the girl away.

She was still alive. With Elena's face now stuck in his head, he felt a little sick with himself for attacking the girl. He bit his wrist and shoved his blood into the girl's mouth.

After about a minute she stood up and looked like she was about to scream.

"You will forget this. Go about doing whatever you were doing before," he spat before speeding off.

o-o-o-o-o-o-o

He had been waiting out here for hours now. She had come out for a second before but then the vampire had followed her a second later. He needed to get to her. He needed to talk to her on her own. He so badly wanted to hear her voice.

There was no way that this wasn't Katerina. Blood relation or not, you could not look that much like someone unless you were twins, and he knew Katerina did not have a twin. The witch and that vampire just wanted to keep him from Katerina, that had to be the case. It had to be Katerina because it wasn't possible for her to have any descendants. The child she had died. Her family had all been murdered, he remembered seeing them all. He remembered seeing a dead child. He remembered burying that dead child.

Anthony, as he had been calling himself for 5 centuries now, looked on, watching her with that vampire called Stefan. The guy clearly loved her and it was painfully obvious that she returned that love.

He couldn't blame Stefan for lying. Anthony understood all too well how much someone could love Katerina. He had loved her from the first second he saw her over 500 years ago in Bulgaria. He wronged her horribly and had been carrying guilt around with him all this time. He had thought she died and this past year he began hearing her name again, but this time it wasn't him that was saying her name, it was someone else and it had been attached to a death threat.

No one was going to touch her. Now that he knew she still existed, there was no way he was going to allow her to perish. He was going to save her and he was going to hope that she could forgive him for what he had done to her. He hoped for forgiveness, but all he really wanted was for her to be safe.

"Elena honey, you think I can borrow your boyfriend for about twenty minutes?" Mary Montgomery asked.

"Cuz you hooked us up with the most awesome cabin ever, and gave me toasted marshmallows and awesome ghost stories, yes, I think I can let you borrow Stefan for a bit," she said with a smile.

Stefan headed off with the older woman and then Anthony made his move.

Elena had her hand on the door to the cabin but before she even knew what was going on, Anthony's hand was clasped over her mouth.

"Katerina," he whispered. "It's okay. I'm here to help you. I won't let them kill you. Don't scream," he said, removing his hand.

"You think I'm Katherine. That would explain why you were staring at me the other morning," Elena said. "I'm not Katherine, so please just leave me alone. My boyfriend is just a scream away."

"I know you must still be angry with me and I will spend the rest of my days apologizing to you if that's what I have to do, but please don't pretend that you aren't who you are. Don't pretend like you don't know me. I know I swore to you that I would leave you alone, but I thought you died. For over 500 years I have thought you were dead and now you're not and I know that you have trouble coming your way. Please just let me help you. You can still hate me, but let me help you," he pleaded.

"Another one. You were in love with her too, huh?" Elena sighed. "I don't know who you are, seriously. I'm not Katherine. I look exactly like her, but I'm not her."

Anthony looked at her and she looked like she was telling the truth.

"May I see your hand please?" he asked her.

"Okay," she said awkwardly.

Anthony took her hand and turned it over, looking at her wrist.

"Oh," was all he said. "You're not her?" It was a statement but he was so shocked that it came out sounding more like a question.

"No, I'm not," she said gently.

"She had a heart-shaped birthmark on her wrist," he said to Elena, trying to make sense of everything.

"Are you okay?" Elena asked him. The guy looked confused and shocked and a little bit in awe.

"You're her descendant?" he said.

"Yes."

"You are descended from her child?"

"Yes," Elena said again.

"I thought that child died," he told her, looking down at his hands.

"How do you know Katherine?" she asked.

"We were young together back in Bulgaria," he said quietly.

"Human," Elena said.

"Yes," he answered.

"What were you to her?" Elena asked, staring at his face. There was something she recognized in his face, but she didn't know what exactly it was.

"Someone who loved her. Someone she might have loved back before I did what I did."

"What did you do?" she asked him. Elena couldn't explain it, but she wanted to know more about this guy. She felt really comfortable talking to him.

"Something I'm not proud of. Something I don't want to talk about," he said. "Through which parent are your ties to Katerina?"

"My mother," she told him.

"What's her name?" he asked.

"Why? And come to think of it, what's _your _name?"

"I'm sorry, I just want to know who Katerina's family is. I can't believe that she has family that still exists," he said, trying to control his voice. "You can call me Anthony."

"Her name is Isobel," she said.

Anthony smiled. "And her, through which parent is she tied to Katerina?"

"Her mother. I don't know her name though, but she died two years ago."

"Elena and Isobel," he whispered, forgetting for a minute that he was standing with Elena.

When he said Isobel, something clicked in Elena's head. What was familiar about this guy were his eyes. His eyes looked like Isobel's.

"Do you have a cell phone?' he asked her.

She nodded.

"Can you hand it to me for a minute?"

She pulled out her phone and gave it to him. "What are you doing?"

"If you ever need anything, you call this number, okay? If you need help or anything like that, you can call me and I'll get to you right away. I promise," he said as he punched in his number into her contact list. "Please don't tell your boyfriend I was here. He's going to think I'm stalking you and he already told me this morning that you weren't Katerina, I just didn't believe him."

"Why would you want to help me? You don't even know me," Elena said.

"Because you are ou- her, because you are her blood," he said, giving the phone back to her. Realization started to dawn on Elena and her jaw dropped a bit.

"It was very nice to meet you, Elena. Remember what I said, call me if you need anything," he said, placing a quick kiss on her cheek.

Anthony was about to walk away.

"Wait," Elena said.

"What is it?" he asked.

"Am I descended from _you, _too?" she asked.

His expression changed.

"You're her baby's father, aren't you?"

"Goodbye Elena," he said, gone before Elena could get another word out.


	23. Chapter 23

o-0-o-0-o Here's the new chapter. Thanks to everyone who reviewed the last chapter and the few before that too: David Fishwick, laugh4life, Raya, celia, Hooked-On-TVD, Marie, Anna-Lisa, BamonBeremyFan. This past week has been insane with essays and exams. I really hope you enjoy the chapter. Please leave me a review and let me know what you think o-0-o-0-o

She'd barely had a 5 minute conversation with the guy, but she felt a link to Anthony and she really felt like he meant it when he told her to call him if she ever needed help. Maybe she was stupid but she didn't think he'd ever hurt her. She really did trust him. He didn't confirm anything, so technically she had no proof that they were related, but she just knew it. She knew with absolute certainty that this guy was the father of Katherine's baby. Unlike with Katherine, she felt no animosity from him towards her.

Stefan should be back any minute now and she wanted to tell him about Anthony because she didn't really like keeping things from him, but she didn't think Anthony was any kind of threat. And Stefan didn't seem like a big fan of his from what he had told her on the drive here. He just felt like something was off about him. Stefan didn't seem to like the guy and she didn't really want to bring up anything about Katherine so she decided she would just stay quiet for now. She'd tell him later.

The part of her that wanted to keep Katherine as far away as possible wanted to keep her mouth shut about meeting Anthony, but another part of her knew that she needed to tell Katherine and she wasn't looking forward to eventually having to go see her.

o-o-o-o-o-o-

"I _told _you! Being a nice guy actually pays off. Who are the hottest girls in school with? Elena's with Stefan. Caroline's with Matt, and now Bonnie's with Jeremy Gilbert. You're an idiot for telling me to drop the nice guy routine," a guy from school said as Bonnie, Jeremy, Caroline and Matt walked by, not knowing that Caroline could hear their every word because of her heightened hearing.

"You'd never have a chance with any of them because I think they're smart enough to know that you're not _actually _a nice guy," his friend snickered. "And I say this in a completely straight guy way, Stefan, Matt and Jeremy are good looking dudes my friend. I highly doubt it was just cuz they're nice guys that the trio hooked up with them."

Caroline let out a little chuckle as she continued walking hand in hand with Matt next to Bonnie and Jeremy. Caroline had nearly burst out laughing when she spotted Bonnie and Jeremy at the movies too. They'd had the exact same date night but hadn't even talked to each other about it before or planned it out. They had their own little dinners but kind of hooked up for a double-date for the movies. She and Bonnie had shared grins as Matt and Jeremy did the total guy thing of grabbing for the girl's hand at pretty much the same time during the movie.

It had been a relaxing and really fun night and Caroline wished for more nights like this- nights without worry or stress. Elena was away with Stefan but from her text she sounded like she and Stefan were having a great night too. Caroline loved it when everyone was having a good time. Her mind wandered to Damon and she wondered what he was up to. Sometimes she hated the guy, but sometimes she felt bad for him. There had actually been a few times when Caroline wanted to extend an invitation to Damon but the guy could be such an asshole sometimes and Caroline had already known he would have scoffed at an invitation to hang out. She wondered why she even bothered caring sometimes. Damon had been absolutely horrible to her once upon a time and sometimes Caroline wondered if it was that she was capable of being so forgiving or if it was some weird vampire blood thing that made her give a damn about him. She wondered if it was because it was his blood that turned her.

Then her thoughts turned from Damon to Tyler. If she could forgive Damon for what he did to her, couldn't she also forgive Tyler one day? She shook her head, ridding herself of thoughts about Tyler. It still hurt too much to think about him just standing by as she was tortured. This night was about fun, not pain.

She brought her attention back to Matt and she smiled. She was so happy that he had come around. Hearing him say that he still loved her this morning was one of the best things she's ever heard. Not knowing if he could love her again had scared Caroline more than she could ever really say.

Matt was staring, probably wondering what she was thinking about. He looked amused. She had the tendency to just vanish into her own little world sometimes.

"Thinking about me?" Matt teased.

"Actually, yes," Caroline said.

Matt seemed to like that answer very much, and he flashed her a grin. Caroline smiled and gave his hand a little squeeze.

o-o-o-o-o-o-

"I was starting to think that she kidnapped you and locked you away so that she could keep you all to herself," Elena said with a grin as Stefan walked back into the cabin. "I was getting ready for a fight. I'm pretty sure I could take her."

Stefan laughed as he pictured the scenario in his head. "I'm pretty sure you could take her too."

"Where'd she whisk you off to?" Elena asked with a little yawn.

"She wanted me to meet her son and husband," Stefan said.

"Aww, that's cute," Elena said.

"It was awkward," Stefan said, taking off his jacket.

"Did she totally gush about you to them, tell them you're a hero?" Elena asked, smiling.

"Pretty much," he told her.

"You've never been all that great taking a compliment. You're way too modest and don't take credit where you deserve it," she said, taking a seat on the couch, patting the spot next to her.

Stefan joined her on the couch. "I can take compliment," he said, laughing a bit.

"You don't give yourself enough credit," she said, leaning her head against him. "But it's kind of adorable how you don't seem to get how awesome you are," she told him, taking his hand in her own.

"Yeah, yeah," Stefan said, smiling at Elena, kissing her forehead.

"Did you have a good time today?" Elena asked Stefan, falling into her usual habit of playing with Stefan's hands.

"Did I enjoy you and me alone without distractions and interruptions-hmmmm, let me think," Stefan said, grinning at her.

Elena gave him a little slap with her free hand.

"I had an awesome time today," he said.

"Thanks for bringing me here, really," Elena said. "I think I really needed this."

"You're welcome and thank _you _for coming with me," Stefan said.

Elena's phone vibrated. She had a new text message.

"Bonnie or Caroline," Stefan said with a grin. "It's one of the two."

Elena opened her phone. "Bonnie," she said, grinning back. "Caroline text me before. She's having a really good night. She and Matt bumped into Bonnie and Jeremy so they kinda ended up double-dating. And she told me she thinks Bonnie and Jeremy might be the cutest thing she's ever seen in her life. Let's see what Bonnie says," Elena said as she read the message. "Fun night. Bonnie says Caroline and Matt seem to be doing great oh and lovely," Elena said letting out a little chuckle, "Jeremy's totally hot."

"I bet you two have fun with that. It's the perfect little teasing piece ready to use whenever," Stefan said as Elena rolled her eyes in amusement at Bonnie's text.

"And Bonnie says to say hi to you," Elena told Stefan as she wrote back a quick response.

"Say hello back," Stefan said.

"I'm glad they all had a good night," Elena said, closing her phone. "What do you say to playing a game with me?"

"What game?" Stefan asked.

"Truth or Dare, minus the dare part," Elena said.

"So basically a random truth-telling session," Stefan said.

"Yep, and we have to answer even if we don't want to," Elena said.

"Alright," Stefan said.

They sat on the couch asking and answering random, silly questions for probably twenty minutes until they brought on the more serious questions.

"Do you ever wish you could just turn back time?" Elena asked.

"Yeah, I do, but then I don't. Things could be fixed if I could turn back time, but I'd also lose something that I can't stand the thought of losing."

"What would you change?" Elena asked him.

"If Katherine never came to Mystic Falls in 1864, me and Damon would have stayed as close as ever. We wouldn't have basically been at war. If Katherine never came to town, I wouldn't have had her blood in my system. I would have died when I was supposed to. I never would have ended back up in my father's house- I wouldn't have done what I did," Stefan said, hating to think about his father and when he turned. "But you know what, if she hadn't come to town in 1864 there's no way I'd be here with you today. After being with you, there's no way I'd just trade this in for my old life, no matter how much pain and tragedy there's been in between. If I never knew you, if I never got to meet you and fall in love with you, I would want to turn back time and change a lot. But I _did_meet you, and I _do _love you, so I wouldn't go back. I wouldn't change it. Whatever happened, I can't regret Katherine, I don't. It's because of her blood in more ways than one that I'm sitting here with you today."

"You're right," Elena said, sighing. "I wouldn't exist and you'd be dead in the ground...Your turn."

"Do you really believe that Elijah's gonna protect everyone?" he asked. "If I told you I still didn't believe the guy would you still trust him?" Stefan asked.

He and Bonnie keeping what they learned about Klaus and Elijah to themselves was definitely taking its toll on both of them. He needed to try one more time with Elena. If there was any chance that she believed Elijah wasn't trustworthy he would tell her what he and Bonnie were working on.

"Yeah, Stefan. I believe he's going to keep everyone I love safe. "I love you, but I think he's on our side. I trust him."

"Alright," Stefan said, forcing a smile.

o-o-o-o-o-o-

"I had a lot of fun tonight Jer, thanks," Bonnie said as she and Jeremy approached her doorstep.

Jeremy leaned in and kissed her. Kissing Jeremy was the sweetest of her kissing experiences. It wasn't sloppy, and it wasn't rough or aggressive, it was gentle and it made clear how much he adored her. Normally she'd be all for continuing on with this, but she was pretty sure that they had an audience of one that Jeremy wasn't aware of.

When he finally pulled away Bonnie gave him a big smile. "I'll call you tomorrow after I wake up," she said.

"Alright, I'll talk to you tomorrow. Have fun dreaming about me," he said with a grin.

"You wish," Bonnie said, sticking out her tongue.

"Jealous and dreaming about me. I _like_it," Jeremy said, chuckling.

"Goodnight."

"I had an awesome time tonight. Thanks for coming out with me," Jeremy said, all joking aside.

Bonnie gave him a wink and watched him head off to his house. When he was out of earshot Bonnie spoke up. "Come on out Damon, I know you're there. Get inside, I need to talk to you anyway. Hurry up,' Bonnie said, unlocking her door, waiting for Damon to walk inside.

"Hello witchy," he said, as he walked past her into her house.

Bonnie didn't notice his face until she closed the door behind them and turned on the light.

When the light came on, Bonnie finally got a look at Damon's face. She saw the blood on his lips and she immediately closed her eyes, hoping that when she opened them the blood would be gone and that she had just been seeing things.

She opened her eyes again and the blood was still there. "What did you do?" she asked him, fists clenched and shaking.

"I got hungry," Damon said, trying to laugh.

"Are you drunk, you idiot?"Bonnie spat.

"Probably," Damon said, with a grin that didn't reach his eyes.

"Tell me that you're just a really nasty blood-bag drinker and that you didn't go rip someone's throat out," Bonnie said, barely whispering.

"I could tell you that, but I'm pretty sure you don't like liars," he said with a smirk. "Come on witchy, kick my ass. Didn't you tell my darling brother last summer that if I spilled one drop of innocent blood you'd take me down? What are you waiting for?"

Rage filled Bonnie. Rage and disappointment and even betrayal. She'd actually come to trust him. Before two seconds had passed Bonnie had Damon writhing in pain on the ground clutching his head.


	24. Chapter 24

o-0-o-0- Hey everyone. Thanks to those who have favourited this story and put it on alert. Thanks to celia, laugh4life, David Fishwick, Anna-Lisa, BamonBeremyFan, and Marie for the reviews This one isn't going to be a super long chapter because I had some unexpected interruptions today, but exams are over so I'll be able to update more often. Leave me a review and let me know what you think. Reviews always give me motivation to write even quicker o-0-o-0-

Damon was writhing on the ground at Bonnie's feet. One hand was gripping his head and the other was pounding on the ground in pain. The sounds that were coming out of his mouth were a combination of screams of agony and laughter.

Bonnie did not stop dishing out the pain. She stood there inflicting more and more pain on Damon, thinking about the promise she had made to take him down if he spilled innocent blood. She had a promise to keep, even if she might not be enjoying following through on it.

o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-

"_Please Katerina, listen to me for just a moment, one moment. That's all I ask. I know that you do not want to see me. You have every right to hate me, but I can't bear the thought. I pray that you can forgive me one day even though I am not deserving of it. I swear to you I will never drink again. I will never again act as that idiot I was. I will never do something so stupid again. I swear to you. You probably don't believe me, but I have never wanted to cause you pain. Since the moment I first saw you, all I wanted was to make you happy. I hope that one day you can maybe forget for two minutes what I did and that you will be able to remember that I truly do love you... I will leave you alone now. I won't bother you again. Please know that I am sorry."_

That had been the second last time he had seen her. It had been over half a millennium ago but he could remember everything with such clarity. He remembered her just staring at him, he remembered how she hadn't said one word to him in response and had only given him the slightest of nods as she had shut the door to her home.

He wondered how she would react to him now, over 500 years later. Anthony wondered if she would really still hate him. He hoped so badly that she wouldn't. He walked through the forest of the small town of Grovetree, knowing that he would probably not find Katerina, but he had to try. He needed to get to her. He needed to help her against those who wanted her dead. He needed to be by her side even if it was to only finally truly die.

He'd walk around in random towns like an idiot until he found her. He didn't care how stupid it seemed. He didn't know where she was and he needed to find her- he would look everywhere. He would search this town and then he would head back to Mystic Falls to look for her there again and to glimpse in on Elena and make sure all was well.

o-o-o-o-o-o-o-

She'd been pretty good. She hadn't been selfish. She'd waited five days. She left Stefan alone to be happy with Elena for five days, but that was more than enough. She wanted to talk to him about what had happened with Bonnie and Elijah days ago, plus, she was just really bored again.

"Come on love, fall asleep," Katherine whispered, pacing back and forth in the tomb, wanting to talk to Stefan and needing him to fall asleep so she could enter his dream. She wanted to tell him about Bonnie's awesome little show, plus she was bored and there was also the fact that she just wanted to hear his voice, even if it was only in a dream.

She waited a few more minutes and she could finally get in. He'd fallen asleep.

"_Hello gorgeous. Have you been having a good time?"_

"_A very good time," Stefan answered._

"_I've had some entertainment over here, too," Katherine said. "Wanna hear about it?" she asked with a grin._

"_Sure, why not," Stefan said, amused at how giddy Katherine seemed to be. "And then I have to tell you something."_

"_Good something or bad something?" she asked._

"_I don't know exactly."_

"_Tell me your thing first," Katherine said._

"_Someone was looking for you the other day. He thought Elena was you. He tried to compel Bonnie to let him in her house so that he could see you for himself."_

"_What did he want?" she asked._

"_He said he wanted to protect you because he knew that people wanted to kill you."_

"_Who is this guy? What's his name? And why the hell does he want to protect me?"_

"_He's a vampire. He's older than me and Damon cuz Bonnie's aneurism didn't work on him. He says that he loves you and his name is Anthony."_

_Stefan waited for a reaction. "So who is this guy, Katherine? Some guy you met after you went back to Bulgaria?"_

"_The name Anthony doesn't ring any bells for me Stefan. Why are you asking about Bulgaria?" she asked._

"_I just assumed he knew you from there because he knew your family had been killed and he knew you had a child... I thought maybe after you went back to Bulgaria after you became a vampire and you found out what Klaus had done to your family," Stefan was trying to mention her family in the gentlest way possible. He didn't want to make her unnecessarily sad. "Maybe you freaked out a bit and told someone. I don't know, it was probably a dumb assumption. Sorry."_

_Katherine just shrugged, shaking her head a bit. "Did you tell him anything about me, Stefan?"_

"_He sounded like he meant what he was saying, but I didn't tell him anything important. I didn't tell him where you were just in case he wasn't on the up and up," Stefan said._

"_Good," Katherine said. "That guy was just messing with you. Anyone who knew about what happened to my family and that I had a kid are long dead. No one outside my family knew that I had a baby except for the people my idiot father gave my daughter to."_

"_And your baby's father, right?" Stefan said. "Maybe he knew Anthony or something maybe he told him?"_

"_No, Stefan," she said quietly._

"_How could you know for sure, Katherine?"_

_Katherine took a breath. "I know for sure because he died literally minutes after he found out that I was pregnant. It's not like he had time to go blab to his friends that he knocked up the Petrova girl."_

_Stefan was quiet for a minute. "Oh," he said._

"_Goodnight Stefan," Katherine said._

"_I'm sorry," he said._

"_It's fine, Stefan," Katherine said, feeling tired almost out of nowhere._

"_Did you love him?"_

"_Goodnight Stefan," Katherine said again, ignoring the question._

"_What did you want to tell me before, Katherine?"_

"_Bonnie outsmarted Elijah. She got him to remove the compulsion that was keeping me in here. All Bonnie has to do now is bring down the seal, she doesn't need to figure out some witchy way to break the compulsion."_

"_That's great," Stefan said._

"_One less thing to worry about," she said, attempting to smile. Her mood totally changed. She wasn't giddy anymore. Now she just had things she didn't want to think about in her head. "Sweet dreams love," she said, leaving his dream before he could say another word._

o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o

"_I'm really happy that you two are getting along. Really happy. I told you he had some good in him Bonnie," Elena said with a smile._

"_He's my brother, Bonnie," Stefan said, entering a burning building to help his brother._

_"You still can't bear to say it, can you?" Damon laughed. "We've become buddies Bon-Bon."_

Images and conversations kept popping into Bonnie's mind as she continued her assault on Damon, but it wasn't until that last thought, that last bit of her conversation with Damon that Bonnie realized that she had tears rolling down her cheeks.

She finally stopped her attack on Damon. She was breathing heavily as she finally took a seat, leaning against the wall.

Damon stopped writhing and screaming. There was pure silence in the room. It took him a couple minutes to drag himself into a sitting position.

Damon was sitting up, using a wall for support, looking exactly like what he was, a man who had just been tortured while Bonnie sat facing him on the opposite side of the room.

Bonnie and Damon just stared at each other, not saying a word.

After a minute Bonnie broke the silence. "Tell me what happened. Don't be a smartass. Don't act like a little bastard and be sarcastic with me. Tell me what happened. Explain to me what the hell is going on."


	25. Chapter 25

o-0-o-0-o- Thanks to those who favourited and to David Fishwick. Laugh4life, Hooked-OnTVD, Raya and Anna-Lisa for reviewing. Here's the new chapter. Hope you like it. Leave me a review and let me know what you think o-0-o-0-o-

Damon didn't answer Bonnie right away, instead he studied her face for a moment. "Are you crying?" he asked her, almost in awe.

She didn't answer that question.

"I'm sorry," he said, sounding like a child. Drunk Damon was nothing like normal Damon.

Bonnie took a deep breath. She wasn't quite sure how to talk to drunk Damon. She just wanted to yell but right now it really did almost feel like she was talking to a kid. "Why are you sorry, Damon?"

"I made you cry, I'm an asshole," he said.

Bonnie almost laughed. He might have killed someone tonight, yet what he was sorry for was her tears.

"I'm fine, Damon," Bonnie said with a sigh, getting up. She grabbed a pillow from the couch and a blanket and went back to sit down against the wall. "I'm tired Damon, just tell me what happened," she said, placing the pillow behind her, acting as a cushion against the wall, and the blanket across her lap.

"I'm tired too, I'm really tired," he said.

"Why?" she asked him.

"Everything is hard. I have to try so hard. It just makes me tired."

"What have you been trying so hard at, Damon?" Bonnie asked, feeling quite drained.

"To be good," he said quietly, leaning his head back against the wall.

Bonnie felt a small pull at her heart.

"I didn't kill the girl tonight," he said, eyes closed.

Relief flooded through Bonnie.

"I had planned on it though. I was going to kill her and I'd get it all out and stop feeling all crazy."

"What are you talking about, Damon?" Bonnie asked.

"I'm in love with Elena," he said "and it's making me crazy."

Bonnie knew that he was in love with Elena. It was pretty obvious, but it was quite something to actually hear the words come out of his mouth.

"I know she's my brother's girl, but I love her and I can't stop. I try to be good because that's what she wants me to be, but I am what I am- I have a dark side. I can't always be good. Being good hurts, Bonnie. When you think about others before yourself- when you finally take a look at yourself and what you've done- it sucks- it hurts... She's making my heart work again, she's opening it up and she's pulling people into it, and it's been so long since there's been more than one person really there that it's overwhelming. Because of her, I'm remembering what family and friendship is- I remember me and Stefan before Katherine came into the picture and I miss it. I miss my brother, Bonnie- my brother who I've put through hell. I'm glad he gives me the time of day. I haven't had real, true friends in a long time Bon-Bon, but there Elena goes and then when I stop and think about it- I have that now too. I've got a stupid soft-spot for your little boyfriend. I actually _like _hanging out with Ric. I wanted to kill those werewolf bastards for hurting Barbie, and then there's you, witchy- you who hated my guts for a long time, maybe you still do. I actually care what you think, I don't want you to hate me."

"I don't hate you, Damon," Bonnie said quietly, absorbing all of the things he said in.

"I know I'm not good for Elena, but I love her. She gave me chances when no one else did or wanted to. She sees something good in me. She makes me feel good. She gave me a home again Bonnie. She gave me my brother back, she gave me friends. She's made me feel again and it kills me to know that I can't have her and it kills me to think that I murdered my brother's best friend. I want to make her happy so I'm good Damon, but this whole new way- this new life is overwhelming. I can be good, to an extent, but there's still a bit of the bloodthirsty vampire in me and I can't reconcile it. There's still this huge selfishness in me and I wonder really if there is anything good afterall," Damon said.

Bonnie was really surprised he was telling her all of this. She knew he'd never say anything like this normally.

"Listen to this and tell me what you think. I don't really think this is someone who's actually really good," Damon said. "I went to where Lexi is buried today. I brought flowers and I said that I was sorry. Stefan had mentioned once that she liked blue orchids so I went out and got some and brought them to her. It was awkward as hell. I had no right to be there saying I was sorry. I killed her and I meant to do it too, so what the hell was I doing over there saying sorry for- because Elena! Because she opened up this thing called my heart and she made me remember that I love my brother. She made me remember all the shit I've done to him. She made me remember what I did to Lexi- the woman who's basically the reason he's not a monster- she made me feel remorse and I hate feeling like that, and then that just made me think about Elena even more. So what do I do when I don't want to feel something, or I want to forget? Well I go for the alcohol or I look for someone to snack on or sometimes both... I don't know if you know this, but I'm kind of drunk out of my mind right now."

Everything had just been serious, but now Bonnie held a small laugh in. _No shit. Yes, I know you're hammered._

"I'm aware of that," Bonnie said, keeping a straight face.

"Okay so here we go- you can tell me if I'm as big a piece of shit as I'm thinking that I am. From Lexi's grave I went for the alcohol and then with some of that lovely stuff in me I wanted to feel some blood go down my throat so I went on the hunt. I was going to rip a throat out. But you know what, let's say if it was you that I had found on that road tonight- aside from the fact that you'd kick my ass if I tried- I wouldn't do that to you. But is that really a good thing, does that mean there's good in me? Isn't that just a selfish good because you're my friend?"

"I think it's all kind of complicated," Bonnie said.

"Sometimes I just can't stand how much I feel and then I just want to do something bad- I want to hurt someone."

There was a couple minutes of silence.

"Maybe you just want to hurt yourself. Maybe you do that to try to make yourself suffer- you just hurt someone else instead," Bonnie said, sighing.

"I don't know," was all Damon said.

"Damon, I need you to understand something. You _cannot _go around killing people. I can't let you get away with it. I can't let you go around killing innocent people. I won't. I'm asking you to be good. I know you say it's hard and I can see that you've got a lot of pain inside, but you can't use that as an excuse. Don't do anything stupid, Damon. I don't want to be at war with you, I really don't."

"You don't?" he asked.

"No I don't, because somewhere along the way you became my friend, Damon. And that should tell you something right there. I'm not an idiot, I don't become friends with horrible people- there _is _good in you."

"I can do good around you guys. I _want _to be good for Elena. I don't really want to be a damn monster. What the hell am I supposed to do when I feel like I'm going crazy? What am I supposed to do when it's all too much? What do I do when I just want to hurt someone, huh?-"

"You come to me," Bonnie said, not even thinking about what she was saying.

"What?"

"If you think you're going to do something stupid or whatever, come find me. I'll kick your ass if that's what you need. I'll argue with you if that'll do any good or I'll just listen," Bonnie told him.

"Yeah?"

"Yeah," Bonnie said, taking a deep breath. "I'll try to help you. Don't screw up, Damon. Please."

"Okay," Damon finally said.

Bonnie got up and put the blanket and pillow back on the couch. She didn't say anything as she walked into the kitchen.

"What are you doing?" Damon asked.

Bonnie came back with a wet cloth and handed it to Damon. "Clean your face up," she said. "You're not staying in my house looking like that."

"Are we having a sleepover, witchy?" Damon asked tiredly, as he wiped the cloth across his bloody mouth.

"I don't think you're in any shape to walk back to your house, that's the only reason you're staying here. Get up Salvatore, the couch is pretty comfy. You better sleep the alcohol off because you are going to start helping me when the morning comes," Bonnie told him.

Damon got up slowly and walked over to the couch. "Goodnight Bon-Bon."

"Goodnight Damon," Bonnie said, climbing the stairs to her room.

o-o-o-o-o

Her mind was flooded with memories and she just wanted to get them out of her head. She did not need or want to be back in Bulgaria right now, yet that was where she was in her mind. For so many years of her human life Bulgaria had been her home. She had loved it, but now whenever she thought back, all she could ever really focus on was pain and sadness and anger and hatred. Katherine had dealt with a whole lot of crap in the last stretch of her human life. She didn't need or want a reminder right now.

She grabbed one of the blankets Stefan had brought for her and wrapped it around herself. She closed her eyes and hoped for a dreamless sleep.

o-o-o-o-o-o

The night had came and went and the afternoon had come. Stefan and Elena had said their goodbyes to Mrs. Montgomery and were now in the car, heading back home.

"I had a funny dream last night," Elena said. "What did you dream?" she asked Stefan.

"I don't think I had a dream," he said.

"Weird, I always dream," she said, looking down as she received a text message. It was from Anthony. It said 'do you think she would return to Mystic Falls?'

Elena wasn't sure what to do or say. She hadn't planned on telling Stefan anything right now, but now she felt like she should.

"Stefan," she said.

"Yeah?"

"You know that guy, Anthony?"

"Yeah."

"I think I know who he is," she said. "I think he's related to me."

"How would he be related to you?"

"I think he was the father of Katherine's baby," Elena blurted out. "There was something familiar about him- it's his eyes. Isobel has his eyes. And the way he was talking- Katherine was something special to him. He talked to me last night after you went with Mrs. Montgomery."

"He was there?" Stefan asked. "I _knew _something was up. Are you okay?"

"I'm fine. He didn't do anything wrong. He even told me to call him if I ever needed any help. Why would he do that for a stranger? I asked him why he would want to help me, when he answered me it sounded like he was about to say 'because you're our blood' but then he said 'because you're her blood.'"

"You didn't tell him where she was, did you?" Stefan asked.

"No."

"Good. I don't trust this guy, Elena. I think he's just spinning a story trying to get information. Maybe he's just out to get her. We can't just feed her to the wolves."

"He just texted me asking if I thought she might come back to Mystic Falls," Elena sighed.

"Please just tell him that you don't know. Katherine doesn't remember any Anthony. She thinks it might just be some trick."

"How do you know that?" Elena asked.

"We talked about it," Stefan said reluctantly. _In my dream. _"The other day. I brought her some blood to last for a bit and I told her about Anthony. She said she didn't know an Anthony."

"Well, someone's lying, and given all we know, I'd say it's Katherine," Elena said.

Stefan closed his eyes and sighed. "Why don't you go talk to her and we can figure everything out for sure."

"I was going to go see her about this anyway," Elena said.

"Oh that's going to be a super fun conversation," Stefan said. "I can picture it now."

"Hey Katherine, I think I met your baby's daddytoday. What do you have to say about that?" Elena said.

"Super, super fun," Stefan said.

Elena just laughed.


	26. Chapter 26

o-0-o-0-o-0 Here's the new chapter. Thanks to BamonBeremyFan, David Fishwick, laugh4life, Marie and celia for the reviews. Hope you enjoy this chapter. Leave me a review and let me know what you think o-0-o-0-o-0

"So don't take this the wrong way, cuz I really like the fact that you don't burn in the sun- but _why _ don't you? Or is that just some stupid myth?" Matt asked Caroline as she was getting dressed.

Caroline grinned at Matt. He was always gorgeous, but he was just absolutely adorable when he was curious.

"Vampires _do _burn in the sun, _but _one of my two best friends is a witch. Bonnie hooked me up with a daylight ring. As long as I wear it it's safe for me in the sun," Caroline explained as she pulled her shirt on.

"What about Stefan and Damon, she didn't make their rings obviously, right? They've been around _way _longer than any of us," Matt said.

Caroline had told Matt about when Stefan and Damon were actually born and Matt didn't believe it for awhile until he finally accepted it and started to think how cool it must have been to be able to have seen the things they had seen.

"Bonnie's like great-great-great-great-great grandmother made their rings," Caroline said, pulling her hair into a quick ponytail.

"Wow," Matt said.

"Remember that girl Anna? The one Jeremy was with for a bit last year?" Caroline said.

"She was a vampire too?" Matt asked, beginning to get dressed.

"Yep," Caroline said. "Stefan and Damon knew her back when they were still human."

"That's a really long time to exist," Matt said. "Do you guys really live forever?"

"That's how the story goes," Caroline said with a shrug. "Unless someone kills us of course- then we're dead and gone."

"Are you going to leave here eventually? Am I going to wake up one day and find you gone because you've been here too long and people will start to notice that you haven't changed at all from the way you looked at 17?"

"I don't like to think about that," Caroline said quietly. "I don't want to think about that right now. I don't know what's going to happen later on, but I can promise you this- if I ever do have to leave I won't leave you to wake up and find me gone- I wouldn't do that to you," she said sincerely.

"I don't want you to go," Matt said, pulling her back down onto his bed.

"I'm right here, right now Matt," she said softly, kissing his lips. "That's the most important thing."

"Would you take me with you if you left?" he asked her.

Caroline gave him a small smile. "If I leave, whenever that would happen, which won't be for at least a few years anyway- if you'd want to come with me, I'd love to take you with me."

Matt seemed to like the answer as he offered Caroline a wide smile.

She bit her lip and smiled back. She had really missed Matt for those few months- she was really happy to have him back.

o-o-o-o-o-o-o

"_Will you stay here in Mystic Falls, Katherine?" Stefan asked._

"_Why do you ask?"_

"_I don't want you to leave. I never want you to leave," he said, taking hold of her hand as he looked into her eyes._

"_I cannot stay here forever Sweet Stefan," she said. Something happened inside her chest when he looked at her so- she who had murdered, who still did, and with no regret. Stefan Salvatore brought her heart to life._

"_Why not?" he asked._

"_The townspeople will start to notice that I don't age. I would need to leave sooner or later."_

"_Will you forget me?" he asked her quietly._

_She took his face in her hands. "I wouldn't be able to forget you even if I tried," she said, whispering into his ear, placing a kiss on his neck. __"I will _never _forget you Stefan Salvatore, not ever. __If things work out the way I want, I won't ever have to say goodbye to you. If things work out the way I want I could have you with me forever."_

Katherine threw the nearest stone against the wall. She couldn't stand being holed up in here much longer- memories, all sorts just kept flooding into her mind, whether awake or asleep. It hurt to remember certain things and know how it all turned out different than you expected. Some memories were just plain horrible. Some were beautiful which would also bring with it pain. Some were neither overly horrible or beautiful, but she still didn't want to be recalling them while she was stuck in here.

o-o-o-o-o-o-o-

"Ughhh," Elena grumbled. "Uncle, or should I say my father, John is at my house," she said as she read a text message from Jeremy. "Lucky me. He wants to see me. How fun."

"Wanna come over for a bit first?" Stefan asked.

"Definitely," Elena said. "If I get some more you-me time, maybe I'll be able to tolerate John."

"What do you want to bet that when I bring you back to your house the first he's going to ask is where you were last night," Stefan said, laughing.

"That's exactly what he's going to say," Elena said rolling her eyes thinking about it.

"And what are you going to tell him?"

"The truth," Elena said with a grin. "I'd like to see the look on his face when I tell him that I was away having a bunch of sex with you. I'm sure he'll be thrilled."

"I'd better get prepared for a stake coming my way courtesy of your dear old dad," Stefan laughed.

"I don't know what he wants from me, Stefan," Elena said more seriously. "He's always been the uncle that I never really liked and then he turns out to be my dad and then he wants me to listen to him and change everything about my life all because now it's common knowledge that he knocked up Isobel in highschool."

"Don't let him upset you, you're not even in the same room yet," Stefan, said giving Elena a gentle nudge.

"Can you imagine how much fun I'm going to have when I go back home?" Elena said. "Tons and tons of it."

"Well hang here for a bit," Stefan said, parking his car in the garage. "Then I'll go back with you to your place and stick around for a bit."

"Sounds good," Elena said, taking his hand. "The less alone time with him, the better it is for me."

o-o-o-o-o-o-o-

"So do you know when Elena will be getting back here?" John asked Jeremy at the kitchen table as Jenna shot him a dirty look.

"I already told you, she'll get here when she gets here," Jeremy said, drumming his fingers on the table .

"Why the hell are you here again?" Jenna asked John. "I don't know if you're aware, but no one is actually happy that you're in town."

"I had no idea," John said sarcastically.

"I'm going to see Rick. Bye Jeremy," Jenna said, patting his head.

"I don't get a goodbye?" John asked with a smirk.

"Bye jackass," Jenna said and Jeremy laughed.

"So what did you do last night?" John asked Jeremy.

"I was out with my girlfriend... Speaking of girlfriends- do you remember Anna? You killed her. Keep that in mind the next time you try to make small talk with me and all I do is glare at you," Jeremy said icily. "Why _are _you here, really?"

"I want to spend time with my family. I want to spend time with you and Elena."

"It's gonna be a real fun time for you cuz neither of us are particularly fond of you."

"We're family," John said.

"Family shouldn't do things to hurt each other, yet you didn't have a problem doing stuff that would hurt me and Elena. You're stupid if you think she's just gonna let you trying to get Stefan killed go."

"I thought things would be better for you both without the vampires," John said, looking Jeremy in the eye.

"Even though you knew full well that I was practically in love with Anna and that Elena was full-on crazy in love with Stefan," Jeremy mumbled, walking out of the house.

John sighed and slammed his fist down onto the table.

o-o-o-o-o-o-o

Bonnie lazily got out of bed and tried to open her eyes as she let out a yawn. She tried to keep her eyes open long enough to check the time on her alarm clock, but she was still really tired so her eyes just kept closing.

Bonnie knew her way to the bathroom adjoined to her room by heart so she just kept her eyes closed as she made her way to the washroom to splash some water on her face and wake herself up.

Bonnie stumbled backwards and screamed as she collided with something that was clearly not her bathroom door.

"Good morning sleepyhead," Damon said with a laugh.

"Why the hell are you in my room, Salvatore?" Bonnie said, stifling a yawn as she got back up. "Go back downstairs while I wake myself up," she mumbled.

"Nah, I think I'll stay here. I'm liking the view," he said with a smirk.

"Get out of my room perv," Bonnie yelled, realizing she was only wearing a tank top and her underwear.

"Fine Grouchy, I'll see you downstairs," Damon said.

Bonnie walked into the bathroom and washed her face and got ready to deal with the day. After she finished washing her face she put some pants on and changed into a different top.

Bonnie walked down the stairs and smelled coffee. She made a face as she walked into the kitchen. She raised an eyebrow as she asked "Did you poison it?"

"Nope, it's not poisoned but it is part of a deal," Damon said.

Bonnie sighed.

"I make you coffee and you keep my drunken ramblings to yourself," Damon said.

"I wasn't going to say anything anyway, but I definitely won't say no to coffee," Bonnie said, taking the cup of coffee Damon pushed at her.

Bonnie brought the cup to her lips and poured some coffee down her throat. After a couple minutes of silence and drinking coffee Bonnie spoke again. "Do you remember everything that happened here last night?"

"Yeah," Damon mumbled.

"Good, because I really don't want to have to go over all that again," Bonnie said.

"So, what am I supposed to start helping you with, Judgey?" Damon asked, remembering what Bonnie had said before she went to bed the night before.

"I want to get stronger fast. I'm not interested in dark magic so you're going to help me."

"And how exactly am I going to do that?" Damon asked.

"You're going to stand back and watch me practice and when I pass out or possibly drain myself to the point of near death, which will possibly happen, you're going to give me your blood- I'll be revived and get my energy back and I'll go at it again, continuously building up my strength," Bonnie said as if she was talking about something as boring or simple as the weather. "Oh and just to remind you, this stays strictly between you and me.

"So you're gonna play around with your magic and possibly nearly kill yourself and I'm supposed to rush in and save you with my blood," Damon said, shaking his head.

"Pretty much."

"I think you might be insane, Bennett."

"Are you telling me no now after you already agreed to help me?" Bonnie asked sending a glare Damon's way.

"I-"

"I don't know if you know, but I'm aware of the deal you made with Emily. If Emily protected Katherine, which she did, even though Katherine wasn't in the tomb, you would protect Emily's bloodline. Newsflash Damon, _I'm _part of Emily's bloodline. You're supposed to protect me and you also promised my dad you'd look out for me," Bonnie said.

Damon just stared at Bonnie for a moment before smirking. "What happened to 'I don't need to be protected' huh Bon-Bon?" Damon asked.

"I don't, but in this case, reminding you of your promises works to my advantage," Bonnie said with a shrug. "If you don't give me your blood after I push myself to the limit you could just be letting me die, which would mean you didn't fulfill your promise."

"Just so you know, smart-ass, if you were passed out and dying I'd give you my damn blood anyway, whether you reminded me of promises I've made or not," Damon said seriously. "I was just saying you shouldn't be an idiot and play too much with the magic."

Bonnie grinned. "You've got a soft spot for me now Salvatore, I knew you'd give me your blood, it's just fun to remind you of promises that you've made."

Damon rolled his eyes. "I'm not the only one with a soft-spot Bennett, the proof of that is that I'm standing here talking to you after you fried my brains to hell last night," Damon reminded her.

"Don't make me regret the soft spot, okay?" Bonnie said seriously, joking aside.

Damon gave her the smallest and quickest of nods, but a nod nonetheless. "So when are we starting this craziness you have planned?" Damon asked, quickly changing the topic.

"How about now?" Bonnie said.

o-o-o-o-o-o-

Talking to Katherine would have to wait, Elena decided. It was time to deal with John, she couldn't put off going home for much longer. She and Stefan were at her doorstep and before she opened the door Stefan spoke. "This is going to sound weird coming from me because I don't like him, but don't give him a hard time right off the bat, okay?"

Elena was confused and Stefan could tell. He laughed a little bit as he continued. "Put what he tried to do to me and Damon aside, I don't think he's ever tried to hurt _you _and that's what really matters. The guy's your father. I know you don't _want _to hate him so just give him a chance. Maybe he really does just want to spend time with you."

"You're far too nice," Elena said, giving Stefan a quick kiss on the cheek. "I'll try to be nice as long as he behaves, but if he says one bad thing to you or about us, I'm throwing nice and civil out the window."

Stefan just smiled as Elena opened the door to her house. He honestly hoped that John wouldn't act like a jackass. Elena was angry with him, couldn't stand the guy even, but Stefan thought that somewhere inside of her, she wanted to be able to smile at him, and she wanted to be able to maybe love the guy that was her father one day. Stefan wanted her to have her family even if he couldn't stand this particular member of it.

Elena was what mattered most, and Stefan had no problem with putting on a smile in front of John if it was good for her. If it was for Elena, Stefan had very little problem with doing just about anything.


	27. Chapter 27

o-0-o-0-o- Thanks to David Fishwick, Raya, Marie, Anna-Lisa and celia for the reviews and thanks to everyone who's favourite and put the story on alert also. Hope everyone enjoys this new chapter. Please leave a review and let me know what you think o-0-o-0-o-

Elena opened her front door and found John standing right in front of it.

"Where-" John was about to start questioning Elena on where she was and what she had been doing but suddenly decided against it, figuring it would only earn him a snide response. "Hi Elena... Stefan," he said instead.

"Hi," Elena responded as Stefan gave John an awkward nod. "Where are Jenna and Jeremy?" Elena asked.

"My presence annoyed them. They left," John said.

"Jeremy said you wanted to see me," Elena said. "What's going on?"

"I did want to see you. It's been awhile. I wanted to see how you're doing," John told her.

"I'm fine," Elena said, taking a breath.

"I know that you're not my biggest fan and I can acknowledge that you have reason for it, and frankly you've given me a better welcome than your aunt and brother, so thanks for that- but can you give me a little more than 'I'm fine'?" John asked.

"Can you apologize to me and Stefan?" Elena asked right back.

"I can't apologize for wanting to protect my daughter," John said.

"You come around and want to play the dad card and maybe you _are_ feeling all dad-like now, maybe you really do care about protecting me. What I say to that, though, number 1- is that I'm not as weak and helpless as I look. I can do a decent job of protecting myself. Number 2- the safest I have ever felt in my life is with Stefan. You talk about protecting me, but all Stefan's ever done is protect me," Elena said, voice rising and beginning to shake with emotion. "If I was a parent and someone made my kid feel safe and loved- if I was a parent and someone protected my kid, I would say _thank you _to them. I would be grateful," she said to John as she took Stefan's hand in hers to try to calm herself.

"Elena-"

"And just so you know, _Stefan's _the one who said to be nice to you. I'd really think carefully about the next words you say because I'll leave just like Jenna and Jeremy if you trash Stefan," Elena said, trying to keep her emotions in check as Stefan rubbed her hand in a gesture of comfort.

John stayed quiet for a moment as if he was trying to think of the next thing he would say.

"I am _very _happy that he makes you feel safe and I _am _grateful that he's protected you but I cannot apologize for wanting something different for you than what he is. Do you really not understand that?" John said.

Elena hated that John was making her so emotional. She just wanted to scream. She shut her eyes tightly to stave off the tears that she could feel forming in her eyes.

Stefan could tell that Elena was trying to prevent herself from crying. He brought her into the corner and whispered. "No tears babe, don't worry about anything. This is actually a pretty good conversation so far. He's not being so bad."

"Why can't he just say something good- all good? Why does he always have to throw in a negative?" Elena mumbled.

"He didn't say anything that bad. I'd say he was pretty decent to me. It was kind of scary," Stefan said, hoping to get a laugh out of Elena.

He managed to get a little smile.

"I think there's something going on with him," Elena said. "He wants to talk and hear what's going on with me, but I think there's more, I think there's something he actually wants to tell me."

"I kind of got that feeling too," Stefan said.

"Why should I care, though?" Elena said stubbornly.

Stefan laughed.

"You want to know what he has to say though, admit it," Stefan said. "You're curious."

"I am," she said.

"He's not going to say anything with me here."

"I know," Elena said.

"I'm gonna leave for a bit, then," Stefan said.

"Thanks for coming back here with me," she told him, kissing him softly.

"You're welcome," he said. "Call me later and let me know how it goes."

"Oh you'll be hearing from me for sure. I'll probably be needing to yell and vent," Elena said.

"Good luck," Stefan said with a smile as he headed out.

o-o-o-o-o-o-o-

"I just have to throw it out there Judgey, this is kinda weird," Damon said as he sat on the couch watching Bonnie as she stood in the middle of her living room chanting.

Damon wasn't sure if she was ignoring his comments or if she just legitimately could not even hear him right now because she was so absorbed in her magic.

This was a weird experience, just sitting around waiting for someone to use up all of their energy and power, waiting to swoop in and literally have to make sure that they didn't die.

Damon wasn't sure how long Bonnie had been going at it at this point, but he could tell that it was starting to take quite a bit out of her. The chanting grew weaker and there was a definite change in the pace of her breathing, Damon could hear it. It was getting slower. Her posture was changing. She wasn't standing as tall or strong. Both of her hands balled into fists as she began to sway slightly on the spot and blood began to pour from her nose.

The lights in Bonnie's house were flickering on and off and the floor and walls were shaking. If Damon didn't know that Bonnie was a witch he'd think there was an earthquake right now.

It was when Bonnie's fists unclenched that Damon knew he'd need to run in at any second. Her fists unclenched first and then her legs gave out and then her breathing stopped. In a matter of a second or two Damon was on the ground with Bonnie's head in his lap, forcing blood down her throat.

This was almost exactly the same as the night she'd come into the woods and taken the wolves out with her aneurisms. He had given her his blood but she had shown no signs of improvement.

Damon put his wrist to her mouth again to make sure more blood went down her throat. Damon took a breath, though not actually needing to breathe, and just waited for another moment.

He really didn't like this whole Bonnie not breathing thing, it freaked him out. "Okay, get up. Time to open your eyes Bon-Bon. Hurry up."

He gave her some more blood, really wanting her to open her eyes. Damon didn't know when exactly it happened, but Bonnie had gotten herself a place on his very, _ very _short list of people he gave a crap about. This girl who called him on his bullshit and wasn't afraid to kick his ass had become important to him. Bonnie Bennett became his friend and it might be the weirdest thing that had happened in a really long time. She might have killed him last night, she came close to it, but she had stopped and that meant something to Damon.

He'd come to realize he liked having her around. She was fun. He loved fighting with her. He didn't want Bonnie Bennett gone. Seeing her basically lifeless wasn't fun, even though he knew she should be opening her eyes anytime now.

Damon was Elena's friend. But Elena wasn't his. He was in love with Elena. Her feelings were not the same as his, and though it hurt, it was okay. He'd take whatever he could get with Elena. He and Stefan were brothers and yes they both loved each other, but their relationship was complicated as hell. They didn't always know where they stood with each other. Caroline had pretty much forgiven him for being a grade A asshole to her while she was human, but he knew that there was still some anger there somewhere. Damon would always be the guy that turned Isobel, Alaric's wife, no matter how buddy-buddy they were. The little Gilbert brat Jeremy would probably always hold it against him for trying to kill him. Bonnie, though- Damon knew exactly where he stood with her. They were even for whatever had gone down between them.

Damon let out a laugh. This friend thing was weird as hell.

Bonnie shot up. The blood worked.

"Welcome back Judgey," Damon said, getting up.

"Again," Bonnie said, cracking her knuckles.

"Are you serious?"

"Yes Damon. I'm serious. Why- do you have somewhere else you need to be right now?" Bonnie said, raising her eyebrow. "I want to get stronger fast, that means we do this more than just once."

"Can you hurry the hell up in opening your damn eyes next time then Bon-Bon? I was picturing all the ways that I'd possibly be murdered by our little group for helping you with something so stupid and letting you die. I think they'd end up swarming me. I'd get staked from all directions."

Bonnie let out a laugh as she began to chant all over again.

o-o-o-o-o-o-

"I thought I wasn't going to be seeing you for awhile?" Katherine said as Stefan came into view. "Didn't darling Elena forbid you from coming to see me or something?"

Stefan didn't answer her and ignored the comment. "She might be coming down here to see you at some point," he said.

"Why?" Katherine asked.

"Elena thinks Anthony's related to her."

"Why?" Katherine asked.

"Elena thinks that this Anthony guy is- or was your daughter's father."

"Stefan- love, what don't you remember about me saying that the guy who got me pregnant died literally minutes after he found out that I was going to have a baby?"

"I told her that you don't remember any Anthony."

"Why does she think that this is the guy who knocked me up?"

"It's obvious he loved you or that he's a really good actor," Stefan said.

"Maybe I slept with the guy or something- boys have the tendency to fall very hard for me, it doesn't mean anything. I don't remember any Anthony, Stefan- and trust me, I remember the guy who got me pregnant," Katherine said impatiently, really not liking the subject.

"I'm not trying to piss you off- don't snap at me," Stefan told her. "Just because the guy says his name is Anthony that doesn't necessarily mean his name is Anthony."

"_Why _does your little girlfriend think that this guy is the male equivalent of me to her?" Katherine asked again.

"He followed us to where we were last night. When I went off to talk to the lady who owned the place he went to Elena thinking she was you. She convinced him she wasn't you. He asked her if she was really related to you. She said yes and then he programmed his number into her phone and he told her to call him if she ever needed anything. Elena asked him why he would want to help her when he didn't even know her."

"What did he say?" Katherine asked.

"He said it was because Elena was your blood, but Elena said that _that _was a correction or cover up because what he said first was more like "our"."

"That doesn't mean anything, Stefan," Katherine sighed. "He's just screwing with all of you."

"She also said that there was something familiar about him."

"And what was that?" Katherine asked, rolling her eyes.

"Elena said that he had the same eyes as Isobel," Stefan told her.

Katherine's expression changed completely. "What did you say?" she asked.

"Elena said that his eyes were like Isobel's."

"Anton," Katherine whispered.

"Anton- Anthony. It could be the same guy, right?" Stefan asked.

"No," Katherine said quickly. "It can't."

"I know you said that he died, but that shouldn't rule out this guy being him. How are you and me standing here right now- we died and became vampires."

"He shot himself in the damn head. He killed himself Stefan- he wanted to be dead, really dead, trust me. He didn't kill himself to become a vampire," Katherine said quietly. "Whoever this Anthony guy is, it's not him."

"Maybe you're angry because he didn't live to stay with you and help you with your daughter, but somewhere you had to have loved the guy, right? Would it be so horrible if this guy was really Anton?" Stefan asked her.

"Just because a girl gets knocked up, it doesn't mean that she's in love with the guy involved, Stefan," Katherine said, taking a breath.

"If he comes around again I'll get a picture. Then you can know for sure...If it was him, would you want to see him?" Stefan asked awkwardly.

"It's not him, Stefan," Katherine said tiredly. "But _if _it's him, I do _not _want to see him. Do you understand me? If it's him you keep him the hell away from me."


	28. Chapter 28

o-0-o-0-o Thanks a bunch to David Fishwick, laugh4life, Anna-Lisa, Hooked-On-TVD and celia for reviewing. And thanks to those who have put the story on alert or favourite it. Here is the newest chapter. It's not too long because I haven't had as much time as I had hoped. I hope you enjoy it. Leave me a review and let me know what you think o-0-o-0-o

"I won't tell him where you are, don't worry," Stefan said. "I asked Elena not to tell him where you were either. Why are you so adamant about not seeing him, though?"

"I usually sit here and kinda hope that you'll come by, but if you're gonna keep talking about this, then just leave. If this is him, I do not want to see him, plain and simple. Switch the subject or leave, Stefan," Katherine told him.

Stefan wanted to ask her so many things but it was obvious that she wouldn't answer him and that she didn't want to be thinking about this guy.

This guy clearly had a big affect on her and Stefan just couldn't help but wonder why. He couldn't help it, he had to ask. "Did he hurt you or something?" Stefan questioned quietly.

Katherine couldn't help but smile a bit. "Even when you half-hate me, you're still sweet," Katherine said, practically whispering.

Stefan wondered if he was supposed to hear that or not.

"Seriously Stefan, I just don't wanna see the guy if it's him. For real, I don't want to talk about him anymore... Have you talked to Bonnie yet?"

"Not yet, I'll go see her later," Stefan said.

"She's a good actress," Katherine said with a grin.

"What exactly did she do? _How_ did she get Elijah to remove his compulsion?" Stefan asked, knowing that the Anton/Anthony discussion was officially closed for now.

"She felt him getting close to this lovely place so she put on a little show, tears and all. She started yelling at me saying that I ruin everything and blah blah blah. She knew Elijah was there but she played it like she was shocked that he was there and that she was a bit ashamed of how she was acting. She told him that he would think she was a horrible person for what she wanted to do and see. Elijah being the sicko that he is told her to tell him what she wanted and said that he'd try to help her out. Bonnie then threw in Elena, which I thought was kinda genius. She asked Elijah not to tell Elena about what she was going to say because she thought Elena wouldn't be very proud... Anyway Bonnie told him that the thing she wanted most was to wipe the smile off my face. Elijah _loved_ that."

"And how did Bonnie want that to happen?" Stefan asked.

"Bonnie said that she'd understand if he wouldn't help her, and she said it might actually be better if he told her no since it would prevent her from possibly not being very proud of herself later on. She told him that she wanted to see hope and happiness on my face and then she wanted to see it all ripped away," Katherine chuckled as she remembered watching it all play out. "She told him that she wanted him to tell me that I could leave the tomb."

Stefan looked confused. "And he was stupid enough to say yes to that?"

Katherine laughed. "Obviously she couldn't just ask him to let me out. Elijah would never do that. She said she wanted him to tell me that I could leave the tomb, and that she wanted him to wait a few seconds so that she could see me get all happy or whatever, and then she wanted him to add on that."

Stefan smirked.

"Her exact words were 'I want you to tell her that she can leave the tomb and I want you to wait for a few seconds so I can see the look of pleasure that I know will cross her face, and then I want you to clarify your statement, and that will definitely wipe the smile off her face. I want you to add on to the end of that 'when Bonnie brings down the seal and lets you out.' And then Elijah got all happy because basically he thought that Bonnie would _never_ actually do that, when in actuality that's exactly what she's going to do."

"Nice," Stefan said with a smirk.

"Very," Katherine agreed. "Did you just get back from your little vacation?"

"Couple hours ago," Stefan said. "John's in town," he added.

"How _lovely,"_Katherine said sarcastically. "Did you see him?"

"Yeah."

"How was _that?"_Katherine asked, rolling her eyes.

"_Lovely,"_Stefan said, and Katherine grinned.

"Was he a jackass?" she asked.

"Not _so_bad actually, which was surprising," Stefan told her. "But then again, Elena threatened to leave if he said anything bad to me, so I guess it's not that surprising," he added.

Katherine laughed. "Nice to know someone can keep him in line... How are his fingers?" Katherine asked with a grin.

Stefan just shook his head and tried not to smile.

"It's okay to smile, I won't tell your girlfriend that you think me chopping off her dad's fingers is funny," Katherine said.

Stefan shook his head again. "Why _did_you cut off his fingers?"

"I'm an evil bitch, remember?" Katherine said, sighing, rolling her eyes.

"Don't roll your eyes. Have I said anything like that recently to you?" Stefan said.

Katherine just shrugged and smiled a bit. "You're only being nice because I'm gonna keep your girlfriend safe."

Stefan wasn't sure what to say to that. "Do you need me to bring you anything else?" he asked, changing the subject.

"The blankets were awesome," Katherine said. "But if you're really offering, I'd love a pillow."

"Okay," Stefan said.

"I know you said you're going to kinda keep away from here a bit, or not come as often cuz Elena doesn't want you to, but if you could bring me a pillow tonight or tomorrow that would be good."

"I'll bring it," Stefan said. "I'll go now and come back."

"Thanks."

"I'll be back soon," Stefan said, walking out of the tomb.

o-o-o-o-o-

"You're a friggin' psychopath, did you know that?" Damon said as Bonnie began round number 3 of her crazy magic session.

Bonnie had pretty much just got up from being nearly dead again and brought back by Damon's blood.

"Twice isn't enough for one day Bennett? Take a damn break," Damon said as Bonnie ignored him. "This is the last time today, Judgey. I mean it."

Damon sat back down on the couch and scowled. He'd been told many times that he was the most stubborn person ever, but he was beginning to believe that Bonnie could give him a run for his money.

o-o-o-o-o-o-

"So Stefan really is a good guy then?" Matt asked Caroline as she took a seat next to him on the couch.

"He really is," Caroline said. "I owe a lot to him."

"I mean I think he's a good guy, and Elena and Bonnie said that he was too, but Elena's his girlfriend so she could be a bit biased. And well me and Bonnie, for all I knew he could have just made us think he was a good guy."

"Stefan doesn't like playing around with people. He wouldn't use compulsion on you and I'm not quite sure if we can even compel witches anyway," Caroline said, putting her head on Matt's shoulder.

"I never thought that I'd ever have these kinds of conversations in my life," Matt said, laughing.

"It's all kinda crazy, I know."

"There's just so much I want to ask," Matt said. "It'll probably all sound stupid though."

"Go ahead," Caroline said. "Ask whatever you want. I'll answer. I don't think there's such a thing as a stupid question in this situation. When things you didn't think existed do suddenly exist, I think _any_question is normal."

Matt began to ask Caroline a bunch of random questions. Most of them just made Caroline laugh and some required more thought. Curiosity was fine. Matt still loved her, he wasn't running away, and this was the main reason she didn't mind answering his questions at all.

o-o-o-o-o-o

"How's school going?" John asked Elena, who was drumming her fingers against the kitchen table.

"It's going alright," Elena answered.

"Any exciting classes?"

"This is weird," Elena said. "We don't do small talk."

"I _want_to do small talk. I _know _that you're still angry with me for a lot of things, but _seriously, _I just want to spend time with you. I want to get to know you better. Whether you like it or not, you're my daughter. Whether you believe it or not, I love you. I've done just about everything wrong, but please Elena, just give me a chance to spend time with you. Give me a chance to show you that there's another side to me than what you've seen."

"You need to be nice to Jenna and stop trying to piss her off and you need to tell Jeremy you're sorry for the hurt you caused him over Anna, and you need to make sure that you don't badmouth Stefan," Elena said.

"But-"

"I know that you're going to say you won't apologize for trying to protect me and Jeremy and blah blah because you think vampires aren't so great. Fine. I can't change your stupid mind, but if you want a relationship here, I need to know that you're sorry for causing pain to us and I need you to acknowledge that Anna made Jeremy happy. I wasn't a big fan of hers, but I will admit that she made Jeremy happy. I need you to acknowledge that you understand that I love Stefan."

John frowned, but after a moment or two, he eventually grumbled "Fine."

o-o-o-o-o-

Stefan tossed the bag with the pillow he had taken from his bed over his shoulder as he made his way back to Katherine in the tomb. As he approached Bonnie's house, he was surprised at what he saw.

Anthony was back.

Stefan grabbed his phone quick so he could get a picture to show to Katherine. As soon as he took the picture, he shoved his phone back into his pocket.

"You're back here again?" Stefan called out.

"I was hoping she came back," Anthony answered.

"Well, she hasn't," Stefan said. "Where have you looked so far?"

"I searched the next couple towns and I've pretty much been all over this country before finding this place," Anthony said.

"_Really_all over the country or just the major spots?" Stefan asked.

"Mostly just the major places," Anthony said.

Stefan came up with a lie on the spot. He didn't have a good feeling about this guy. "Katherine likes smaller spots. She mentioned some of her favourite places to go were the smaller cities in Texas and New York. Maybe she's there."

"It's worth checking out. Thank you," Anthony said. "Please, if she comes back here, call me," he said, writing down a phone number and handing it to Stefan.

"I'll let you know," Stefan said, nodding.

"I guess I'm leaving again," Anthony said, practically vanishing before Stefan's eyes.

Stefan kept walking but he changed his course just in case Anthony hadn't actually left yet. After about fifteen minutes he went back to the tomb.

"Anthony's back, or was," Stefan said, handing the pillow to Katherine. "And I've got a picture."

"Show me," Katherine said, putting the pillow on top of the two blankets.

Stefan put the picture on the screen and handed the phone to Katherine.

Katherine's jaw dropped as she took a look at the picture and Stefan's phone fell to the ground.

"Is that Anton? Is that your baby's father?" Stefan asked gently, seeing that Katherine was seriously freaked out.

Katherine picked Stefan's phone up and handed it back to him without a word.

"Is it?" he asked again.

"Thank you for the pillow, Stefan," Katherine said quietly, grabbing the blankets and pillow and heading to the back of the tomb.


	29. Chapter 29

o-0-o-0-o Here's the new chapter. Thanks to David Fishwick, laugh4life, Marie, and celia for reviewing. I love hearing what people think so please leave a review for this chapter. I hope you like it o-0-o-0-o

"Call your boyfriend, witchy. The kid keeps calling your phone," Damon said, passing Bonnie her phone as she began to sit up. "I'm heading out now, by the way- so no more psycho witchy trances for you today."

"Crap. He called 4 times," Bonnie said, looking at her phone.

"I told you when he did, but you were all absorbed in your magic," Damon said. "And by the way, just so you know, I don't think I buy your line about wanting to get stronger just for the sake of getting stronger, completely. There's a reason for all this, and I'll find out sooner or later."

"Making up scenarios in your head now, Salvatore?" Bonnie said with a grin. "I think you might be getting paranoid. I want to get stronger, why does there have to be more to it than that?"

Damon just shook his head and headed for the door. "You should probably eat something. I imagine your body probably wants some food after practically being dead 3 times."

"Speaking of food," Bonnie said more seriously, "Make sure you stick to the blood bags."

Damon rolled his eyes as he opened the door. "Bye Judgey."

o-o-o-o-o-

"Jeremy, can I talk to you for a minute? Please," John said when Jeremy walked back into the house.

Jeremy looked to Elena, seemingly asking her silently if he should say yes or no. Elena nodded at Jeremy.

"Okay," Jeremy said, taking a breath.

"I have an opinion on vampires and I can't change that. I wish that you and Elena did not have any involved in your lives. I wish you had never met a vampire, but please believe me when I say that I'm sorry for the pain I caused you where Anna was concerned. I know you cared about her a lot, I even think you loved her and I'm sorry that what I did hurt you. You're my family. You and Elena are my family and whatever my feelings are for the vampires, I have never wanted either of you to hurt. Please know that," John said, getting up from where he sat at the kitchen table.

"Where are you going?" Jeremy asked.

"I'm going to head out. I'm a bit tired. I think I'm going to stay at the hotel for the time I'm here. I think you two have had enough of me for today. Call my cell if you need anything," John said as he walked out the door without another word.

"What was all that about?" Jeremy asked his sister.

"I think there's something going on with him. I think there's something he wants to say. I think he regrets making us hate him," Elena sighed.

"How was he with Stefan?" Jeremy asked.

"Not too bad, but I think that's because I told him if he trashed Stefan I'd leave just like you and Jenna did," Elena said.

Jeremy just shook his head. "I think there's something going on with him too."

"The question is, _what _is going on," Jenna said, making Elena and Jeremy turn around.

Jenna was standing in the doorway. "Dear old John was actually just nice to me. It was very weird."

"What's weird?" Damon asked, strolling into the kitchen.

"You don't believe in knocking?" Jenna said, turning to Damon.

"_Sorry,"_Damon said and Jenna rolled her eyes.

Jeremy's phone rang. "Finally," he said, seeing that it was Bonnie. "Sleep in much?" he said with a laugh, answering the phone and walking out of the room.

Damon tried to hide a grin. Bonnie definitely hadn't been sleeping for awhile.

"John's acting nice. That's what's weird," Elena explained.

"Maybe he finally realized what an ass he is," Damon said. "He's probably just sick of you guys hating him. That, or he's got some kind of agenda."

"Enough about John," Jenna said. "New topic while I'm still in the room, please. I don't have the energy to think about what's going on with that man. I already have a headache."

"How about I take Elena out of the room altogether, then you don't have to think or hear about anything we say," Damon said, taking Elena by the arm and going outside.

"What's up, Damon?" Elena asked with a laugh.

"Nothing. I'm just bored. Haven't talked to you in a bit. Figured I'd have some fun and come bug you."

"You're not bugging me," Elena told him, giving him a little nudge.

"Sooooooooooo," Damon said dramatically, "did you have a nice time on your little getaway?"

"I did," she said, smiling.

"That's good," Damon said, meaning it. He loved seeing Elena smile. "Where's my broody baby brother?"

"He brought me back here and stayed for a bit, but we both thought that there was something that John wanted to say and we figured he wasn't gonna talk with Stefan here, so he left for a bit."

"I wouldn't have thought that John would come back, at least not this soon," Damon said.

"Me neither, which makes me think even more that there's a reason for it," Elena said with a sigh. "Anyway though, I'm with Jenna, new topic time... Ooh, this is pretty big stuff. Stefan's not too sure if he agrees with me, though."

"What is it?" Damon asked.

"Remember the guy Stefan told you about yesterday?" Elena asked.

"Yours/Katherine's stalker guy," Damon said.

"Yeah."

"What about him?" Damon asked.

"I think he's related to me. I'd _bet_ on it actually," Elena said.

"How do you think he's related to you and _why _do you think that?" Damon asked her, looking sceptical.

Elena told Damon about her conversation with Anthony. "Wow," Damon said, with a snort. "The guy who knocked up Katherine."

"I think so," Elena said.

"I didn't see that one coming," Damon said. "Stefan could be right, though. Maybe this guy is just a liar."

"I don't think he is, though. You didn't see him when he was talking about her," Elena said, moving her hair out of her face. "This guy loves her."

"That doesn't necessarily mean he is who you think he is, though I think you could be right."

"Part of me wants to tell him where she is," Elena said.

"If the guy really is who you think he is, I'd love to see the look on her face when she comes face to face with him," Damon grinned.

"Stefan doesn't want me to say anything. And a tiny part of me thinks I should keep my mouth shut too, just in case something else is up."

Damon shrugged. "Personally I don't care what the guy wants with her. I don't care what happens to her anymore."

Elena looked at him for a moment, examining him. She was pretty sure that he mostly meant it. _Mostly. _

"If it came down to it, and someone was after her for no reason, you would still care. I think," she told him.

"I don't love that snake anymore, Elena. Me and baby bro were quite willing to kill her at the Masquerade Ball if you don't remember."

Elena smiled a bit. "You guys had thought I was in danger then, though," Elena pointed out.

"Your point?"

"I'm not in danger from her anymore, if I ever even actually was," Elena said with a sigh. "Even if you hate her now, I don't think you'd really want anything to happen to her."

Damon rolled his eyes. "I really, truly, finally, am over her, Elena. Maybe you're right, though. Maybe I don't really want to see anything bad happen to her, even if she deserves it- and trust me, she would deserve it."

"You don't think I should tell Anthony anything then?"

"I guess not," Damon said. "And if this guy comes around again, do me a favour and let me or Stefan know. If this guy really is a liar, I'm not exactly excited about the idea that some guy who's probably over 500 years old is stalking you."

Elena just smiled.

"You think it's a bit funny, but you _are _aware that you're a magnet for trouble, right?" Damon asked.

Elena grinned.

"If I was still human, I'd say the trouble that finds itself your way would be giving me gray hair," Damon said.

Elena laughed at that, picturing Damon with gray hair. "It's a good thing you're a vampire, then," Elena said. "Because you with gray hair would just be all kinds of wrong."

"I _totally _agree," Damon said dramatically.

"You seem a bit tired, though," Elena said. "What did you do last night?" she asked.

_I nearly killed a girl, but only stopped because I suddenly thought about you. Then I drank some more and semi-stalked your best friend and got her to kick my ass and nearly kill me._

"Not much," Damon said with a shrug. "You wanna walk? I'm in the mood to walk."

"Sure," Elena said. "Let's take a walk."

o-o-o-o-o-o-

"Katherine, come on," Stefan said. "Come back here."

"I'm tired, Stefan," she answered, not moving.

"Who is he, Katherine? What's wrong?"

"He's no one, Stefan. Nothing's wrong. Don't worry about it."

"You're freaking me out," Stefan said.

"There's no need for you to be freaked out. Everything's fine. That guy is no one. I have no interest in seeing him."

"That guy is clearly someone, Katherine. You don't have a reaction like you did to a person who you don't know," Stefan said, getting frustrated.

Katherine was back at the front of the tomb, inches from Stefan's face within a second- the only thing separating them was the spell that held her inside.

"For the last time, Stefan. He's no one. Just forget about it. Please."

"Is he a danger to Elena?" Stefan asked, ignoring her. "You know him. Somehow you know him. And fine, you don't want to tell me who he is, I can't make you. But you owe it to me to tell me if I need to be worried about him coming around Elena. If there's ever been one second that you cared about me, even one measly second, you'll tell me that much."

Katherine took a deep breath and closed her eyes. "Elena's in no danger from him. You don't need to worry about that... I just don't want to see him, okay? Keep him away from me."

"Okay," Stefan said quietly.

"And do me a favour, Stefan," Katherine said, voice louder, clearer.

"What?"

"Don't pull that 'if you ever cared about me' stuff again. It's not fair. I'm not going to keep saying this. You _know_ I cared about you. You know that I care about you now. You know that I loved you and you know that I _still_ love you now. I've said it more than enough, I'm not going to keep repeating it and I'm not going to keep trying to prove it to a guy who doesn't love me back anymore," she said firmly. "If he was a danger to your girlfriend, I would tell you."

Stefan didn't know what to say to that.

"Again, thank you for the pillow, Stefan," Katherine said, once again, making her way to the back of the tomb.

Stefan stood at the front of the tomb, feeling something very odd and unfamiliar at Katherine's words to him. She had just made him feel like absolute crap.


	30. Chapter 30

o-0-o-0-o Alrighty, here's chapter 30. Thanks to David Fishwick, Raya, Marie, Hooked-On-TVD, celia, and Anna-Lisa for reviewing last chapter. I really hope you enjoy this new chapter. Please leave me a review and let me know what you think o-0-o-0-o

"You got any good stories from when you and Stefan were young?" Elena asked as she and Damon walked by the area Stefan had taken her to before.

Damon saw that Elena seemed to be somewhat familiar with the area. "Stefan brought you here before?" he asked.

"Yeah," she said, nodding.

"Did _he _ tell you any stories?"

"He told me some stuff. I didn't push him to go into details or anything, but it was nice to hear about you guys before. He showed me where you guys used to live, where your grandmother's house used to be," Elena said.

"A couple minutes away from here," Damon said, sighing.

"Do you think about the past a lot?" Elena asked as she stopped walking.

"Yeah," Damon said.

"You ever miss it?" Elena asked, taking a seat on a tree stump.

"You mean Stefan and me?" Damon asked with a smirk. "Say what you really wanna ask, Elena."

"Fine. Do you miss your brother?" Elena asked.

"My brother's here in Mystic Falls, Elena. There's nothing to miss."

"You know what I mean," Elena said.

"Me and Stefan are fine, Elena," Damon said.

"You're both so damn stubborn," she mumbled. "That's not what I asked. I asked if you missed him."

Damon didn't answer the question. He didn't like talking out loud about his relationship with his brother, and the only reason he had blurted those things out to Bonnie like an idiot last night was because he was drunk out of his mind.

"You see that tree up there?" Damon said, pointing ahead.

Elena sighed. She wasn't going to get an answer out of him. "Yeah," she finally said.

"It's not there anymore, but a little bit ahead of where that tree is, another tree used to be," Damon said, taking a seat next to Elena. "I used to love climbing that tree. I think I was 8 cuz Stefan was 4 at the time. He wanted so badly to climb that tree, but he was too young- you don't have the strength at that age to climb a tree. I was such an ass. I used to love teasing him about not being able to climb it. One day he said to me 'I'm going to be in that tree today.' Naturally, I laughed and told him to keep dreaming. He said that if I was going to climb the tree, he'd get up there too. I told him there was no way and then I started to go towards the tree, getting ready to climb and piss him off," Damon said, clearly taking himself back in time, unable to hide a grin that was forming. "Before I knew what the hell was going on, something jumped me from behind and had a death grip around my neck."

"Was it Stefan?" Elena asked with a laugh.

"Yeah," Damon said, shaking his head. "The little jackass wouldn't let go. He was laughing his head off. He's like 'I told you, if you're going to climb the tree that I'm getting up there too.'"

"What did you do?" Elena asked with a grin.

Damon shrugged and rolled his eyes, but a smirk could still be seen on his face. "I was amused and a bit impressed with my little brat brother, so I let him stay where he was and proceeded to climb the tree with the monkey brat on my back."

"That didn't turn out well, I bet. You were 8, I doubt you could get you _and _Stefan up a tree," Elena said, unable to keep from grinning.

"It did _not_ turn out well," Damon said. "Even though it didn't turn out well, it was funny as hell. I made it a decent way up the tree, but eventually I couldn't do it anymore. Our dad came outside as we fell from the tree. I didn't get hurt, but the way Stefan fell, he broke his arm. He was in pain- he was 4. I could tell he wanted to cry, hell, _I _would have cried and I was older. But when he saw our dad coming, he started to laugh."

"What?"

"He was in pain but he didn't want our dad to get mad at me, so instead of crying, he tried to laugh off the pain. Dear old dad came over and asked if we were okay and Stefan nodded his head, laughing like an idiot. Our father apparently bought Stefan's reply, which does not say much about his intelligence, and he started to walk off to see the neighbour. Me and Stefan practically ran back to our house. Once we got in and closed the door behind us, Stefan finally just let himself scream. Our mom came running from wherever she was and then she went to get a doctor. When our mom and the doctor asked what had happened, Stefan said that he was climbing the tree and that I saw him and tried to get him down. The kid was covering my ass when he was 4," Damon laughed. "Of course no one believed him, but he tried to keep me out of trouble."

Elena smiled, picturing the scenario.

"He was 4 and he blamed himself. I'm the one who decided to go up- I'm the one who decided to leave him where he was, hanging on my back and go up that tree, yet he thought it was his fault."

"He does feel guilty about a lot of things," Elena said.

"New topic," Damon said suddenly, getting up and pulling Elena up with him.

Elena wasn't surprised that that's where the conversation ended. "I have a question for you," she said. "It's probably really stupid, and I've already asked everyone else-"

"What is it?" Damon asked her.

"Remember the day you and Stefan saved my ass from Elijah after I got grabbed from the Masquerade Ball?"

"Yeah, I remember."

"I've had this feeling for awhile that something happened on that day, but I just can't remember what it is-" Elena started.

"I think you're mixing up days now," Damon said quickly. "I know you still haven't been able to really remember what happened the day you fell down the stairs."

"No, I'm not mixing up days, Damon. I still can't remember what happened that day, you're right, but I'm saying that I've had this feeling for awhile now, that something happened on the day you guys saved me and I just can't remember. I feel like someone told me something important, but for whatever reason I just can't remember it. I talked to Stefan, Jeremy, Bonnie, Caroline and Alaric and I remember everything that they said happened between us on that day, so I was thinking that maybe the thing I can't remember was with you. Did we talk or anything?" Elena asked.

Damon's eyes widened in a bit of shock. _She cannot remember! If she remembers that I told her I love her, things will not go well._

Damon faked a laugh. "No Elena, we didn't. Isn't one day where you can't remember enough? Why do you want to make it two?"

Elena rolled her eyes. "I don't _want _to make it two, smart ass. I just feel like there's something I can't remember."

Damon reached out and messed up Elena's hair to which she responded a very loud "Hey!"

Damon just laughed and kept walking.

"You ruined my hair," Elena complained.

"No," Damon said. "You look cute." _Beautiful, actually._

o-o-o-o-o-o-o

Stefan walked out of the tomb, sighing. He felt bad, but he wasn't 100% sure why. He shook it off and pulled out his phone, giving Bonnie a call.

"Hey Bonnie."

"Hi Stefan. How are you?"

"I'm alright, how are you?"

"Pretty good," she said.

"Are you free right now?" Stefan asked.

"Yeah, I'm free for the next hour. You wanna stop by?"

"Yeah, just for a bit," he said.

"Okay cool, I'm home. I'll be waiting for you."

"Alright, I'll see you in a few minutes."

It wasn't a long walk to Bonnie's house at all. He got there quickly.

Bonnie had the door open before he even had the chance to knock.

"Hi," she said. "Come on in."

Bonnie closed the door behind Stefan.

"I hear that you're a good actress," Stefan said with a grin.

"Well, it's either that, or Elijah's so stupidly cocky that he thinks everyone believes him and that no one would try to do anything against him," Bonnie said grinning back. "Hey, wait. How do you know that? I haven't talked to you yet."

"I was just with Katherine. She told me," Stefan said.

"Speaking of Katherine," Bonnie said, plopping down onto her couch. "I think I'll be able to get her out within a couple weeks."

"Yeah?" Stefan said.

"Yeah," Bonnie said, nodding and smiling.

"And everything's alright with you?" Stefan asked. "You're not over-pushing yourself or anything?"

"I used to wonder what it would be like to have an older brother sometimes," Bonnie said, smiling again. "I think it's probably something like this."

"I just wanna make sure you're okay," Stefan said.

"You're sweet. I'm fine, Stefan. I feel good. I'm feeling stronger. I'll be able to get her out soon. And we need to figure out where she's going to stay and when exactly we tell the others about us getting her out," Bonnie said, not looking forward to everyone else's reaction about her getting Katherine out of the tomb.

"I guess she'll stay with me and Damon," Stefan said with a shrug and a sigh.

Bonnie couldn't help but laugh. "I think that might be disastrous."

"Oh how could it possibly be disastrous?" Stefan asked sarcastically.

Bonnie snorted and Stefan laughed.

"I was thinking that maybe she should stay here with me," Bonnie said more seriously.

"What?" Stefan said in surprise.

"If Katherine stays at your place, I'm pretty sure it's gonna cause problems. Elena's not going to be happy that your ex is shacking up with you and I can just picture it now- Elena coming over to spend time with you and Katherine's lurking around the corner. That's not going to go over well. And then there's Damon who can't stand Katherine either. There's also the fact that any vampire can walk into your house- they can't do that here. They'd need an invitation from me, and aside from you and your brother, Katherine's the only other one I'll extend the invite to."

"That's all true," Stefan said, rubbing his temples. "But do you really trust her enough to let her stay with you?"

"It's gonna sound crazy, but yeah, I do," Bonnie said.

"How?"

"Number 1- I believe she wants to help keep Elena safe. Number 2- she _very_ reluctantly told me that Emily was a friend of hers and that because of that she didn't want me to die, and that's after she kept telling me to stay away from dark magic and not to be stupid and insult my bloodline," Bonnie said with a shrug.

Stefan didn't have an answer to that.

"It'll be fine," Bonnie said.

"Are you comfortable with her staying here? I know you said you trust her, but are you going to be comfortable with her around?" Stefan asked. "It's not fair that you're going to have to be so inconvenienced."

"It'll be fine, Stefan. Don't worry about it," Bonnie said.

"No, Bonnie. That's not fair to you, it's really not. And what about Jeremy? I can just see how well that'll go over- Jeremy comes to see you with Katherine here- he is not going to be happy. And honestly, as much as Elena would probably hate Katherine being at my place, I think she might kill me if she thinks I'm pawning Katherine off on you."

"Maybe we can share her. One day she'll be here and then one day at your place?" Bonnie said, laughing, lightly banging her head against the wall.

"I have an idea that should be able to solve the vampire entering my house problem," Stefan said suddenly.

"And what idea is that?" Bonnie asked.

"Me and Damon can sign over the house to Elena. Ownership would be hers. Invitation would be required," Stefan said with a grin. "Between you and me, we can find a way to talk Damon and Elena into letting Katherine stay at our place."

"Wow," Bonnie said. "You'd give Elena your house?"

"Yeah," Stefan said, as if it was the most obvious thing in the world. "I'd give her anything of mine."

Bonnie bit her lip and smiled. "I'm really happy you guys found each other, Stefan."

"Me too," he said, smiling.

"It's gonna be weird when we get her out," Bonnie said. "Our little gang is not going to be too happy with us for awhile, I think."

"You're probably right. But let's hope for the best," Stefan said. "Oh yeah, one more thing. That Anthony guy was back again today, looking for Katherine. I told him she wasn't here and got him to leave. I think I told him she might be in New York or something. I didn't trust him from the beginning really, but now I pretty much know for a fact that this guy did know Katherine."

"How do you know for sure?" Bonnie asked.

"I took a quick picture of him and showed it to Katherine, and it was pretty obvious by the way she reacted that she knew him. At first she kept saying that he was no one but that she didn't want to see him. But I knew that she knew him, so I pushed some more and told her to tell me if this guy was a danger to Elena."

"How'd you get her to do that?" Bonnie asked.

"Apparently by being an asshole, since Katherine wasn't happy with me afterwards," Stefan said.

Bonnie raised her eyebrow.

"I used the 'if you ever cared about me, you'll tell me' line."

Bonnie nodded in understanding.

"Anyway, she said that he's no danger to Elena, but that she did not want to see him."

"Who do you think he is?" Bonnie asked.

"I'm starting to think Elena's theory might be right. I think he might be the father of Katherine's baby."

"Seriously?" Bonnie said, her jaw nearly dropping.

"Maybe," Stefan said.

"Why wouldn't she want to see him then?" Bonnie asked.

"I don't know anything for sure, but there's some kind of pain involved, but she won't say anything. I just know that she does not want that guy anywhere near her, so if he does come around here again, please just tell him she's not here."

"Even though he says he wants to help her?" Bonnie asked.

"I told her what he said about wanting to help her. She made it clear she wants him nowhere near her. She's going to help us keep Elena safe by fighting against Elijah and Klaus- if she doesn't want that guy to know where she is- I at least owe her that much," Stefan said.

"I won't say anything to him," Bonnie told Stefan.

"Good," Stefan said.

"Oh yeah, I wanted to make sure that you really do know where the white ash tree is, like I mean the specific spot," Bonnie said.

Stefan grinned. "I do. Are we almost ready to gather some wood?"

"I think we will be in a couple days. I've got a bit more I need to do, but we should be able to get on that soon."

"That sounds great," Stefan said.

"Yeah, it is," Bonnie said.

"Okay, well I think I'm gonna get out of here and leave you alone now. I've taken up enough of your time. I know you've got something to do soon and I thought I'd go see Caroline for a bit since she text me earlier."

Bonnie smiled at the mention of Caroline. "I've told you a bunch of times how happy I am that Elena found you. I don't really remember if I've ever told you how happy I am that Caroline found you too. You've helped her a lot. I'm sure she's told you that before, but if she hasn't you really should know that. So from her _and _me, thank you. You were there for her at a time that I couldn't be there for her 100%, the way I should have been."

Stefan just smiled and shrugged.

"See you tomorrow, Stefan," Bonnie said, as the youngest Salvatore exited her home.

Bonnie closed the door behind Stefan and walked up to her room, looking for different clothes to change into for when she went out with Jeremy later.

She had talked to him not long ago and he asked her if she was up to do something. She knew he loved the arcade and since he was so damn adorable and sweet to her she said she was in the mood to hit the arcade even though he'd probably kick her ass at all the games.

She loved seeing Jeremy smile and she loved that she so easily made him smile. This thing with Jeremy had come about pretty unexpectedly, but it was probably Bonnie's favourite unexpected surprise ever.

o-o-o-o-o-o-

"Is my favourite Salvatore coming to visit me?" Caroline called out to Stefan with a grin.

"If your favourite Salvatore is me, then the answer is yes," Stefan said grinning back.

"Let's turn around," Caroline said. "I'm full of energy. I wanna be outside. Let's do the walk and talk thing," she said, linking arms with Stefan.

"Someone's happy," Stefan commented.

"I totally am," Caroline said.

"That's good," Stefan said, totally meaning it. "I take it that things are going well with Matt."

"Things are going great," she said happily. "He's dealing really well with everything. I was scared for awhile that it wasn't going to work out, but it is and I'm so happy. And I just wanna say thanks for everything. I don't think I'd be able to be in a relationship with him if you hadn't helped me."

"Friends help each other," Stefan said simply. "No thanks necessary."

"That's sweet to say, but thanks are definitely necessary. Who knows where or what I'd be right now, if you didn't help me at the beginning."

"You're welcome."

"So I hear you and Elena had an awesome time on your little getaway which is awesome, but I'm telling you now, just like I already told Elena- you two missed out on date night. We need to do a triple date night sometime soon. It'll be awesome. I'm not taking no for an answer. You and Matt and Jeremy don't really have a choice in the matter. It's already settled, I'm just doing you a courtesy by informing you," Caroline said with a wink.

"That's very kind of you. Thanks for the info," Stefan said, laughing.

o-o-o-o-o-

"You've got me all curious about that guy now," Damon said. "You wanna go ask her who he is?"

"I was going to go down there today anyway, but then John came in the picture," Elena said. "Yeah, let's go. We're close by anyway."

Damon and Elena made their way to the tomb as Caroline and Stefan were walking not too far off.

Katherine had tried to sleep. She'd curled up with the blankets and the pillow, but she could not fall asleep. There was so much running through her head.

She heard footsteps and thought Stefan had come back. "Leave it alone, Stefan," she called out. "I told you, he's no one. He's not gonna hurt your girlfriend. Everything's fine. I'm not saying anything else. So don't bother asking me again."

"It's not Stefan," Elena said, her voice making its way to Katherine's ears. "It's Elena and Damon."

"Oh yay," Katherine said sarcastically. "What the hell do you want?"

"Come over here and talk," Damon said with a grin. "I hear the guy who knocked you up might be in town."

"I don't even want to talk to your brother right now, so why the hell would you ever think that I'd come out and talk to _you?_" Katherine said with the intent of being a bitch.

"Talk to me, then," Elena said. "Who's Anthony? That guy's got it for you bad. The things he said- it just makes me think-"

"He's no one. You're not in any danger from the guy. Now both of you, get out of here," Katherine said through gritted teeth.

"No," Damon said. "We'll stay as long as we want," Damon said stubbornly.

"Get out," Katherine said again.

"No. Just tell us," Elena said.

"You're an ungrateful little bitch," Katherine spat as she sauntered to the front of the tomb. "Get out," she hissed.

"No," both Elena and Damon said.

"Fine," Katherine said with a grin that didn't reach her eyes. "Stefan!" she shrieked.

Elena and Damon looked shocked as Katherine yelled again. "Stefan!"

Stefan was in the tomb in seconds, followed by Caroline.

"What's wrong?" he said, looking around the tomb, seeing Damon and Elena.

"Get your brother and your little girlfriend out of here, Stefan," Katherine said, taking a breath.

"I'll stay as long as I want to," Damon said.

"You put me in here, you little bastard. You locked me away so none of you would have to see me or deal with me again- so stick with your damn plan and get the hell out of here. Get out of my face," Katherine hissed. "Come on Barbie, be of some use. Get your BFF out of here," Katherine said, turning to Caroline.

Caroline rolled her eyes at Katherine as she shot her a dirty look.

"Let's go," Stefan said.

Caroline took Elena's hand and Stefan grabbed Damon's arm.

"She won't answer-" Damon started.

"Exactly," Stefan said, exasperated. "She's _not_ gonna answer, so let's get out of here. Just leave her alone," he said, practically pushing Damon out of the tomb. "She's just gonna keep yelling and then we're gonna attract unwanted attention. We don't need unwanted attention in this town, remember?" Stefan said.

"Talk about a hissy fit," Elena said, taking hold of Stefan's hand when they got out of the tomb.

When Katherine was sure that they were all gone, she didn't bother to hold anything in anymore. She put her head in her hands and she cried.


	31. Chapter 31

o-0-o-0-o Here's the new chapter. Thanks to laugh4life, David Fishwick, Amanda Redrouge, celia and Raya for reviewing. Hope you enjoy the chapter. Let me know what you think by leaving a review o-0-o-0-o

_How is he alive? There were no vampires in our town, right? Who could have turned him? I would know that now. I would remember anyone suspicious and out of the ordinary, wouldn't I? Could it have just been a vampire passing through the town one night? I can't believe it's him. I don't want to see him. I don't want to look at his face._

It had been a few hours since Stefan, Damon, Elena and Caroline had left the tomb and Katherine had been trying to calm herself down. She actually couldn't believe how she had freaked out before, but she just couldn't stand it- everyone with their questions and Damon with his attitude and Elena with her stubbornness, she was bound to burst- and she did.

She was really happy that Stefan had gotten them out of the tomb. She didn't want to see anyone and didn't have the patience to deal with anyone right now.

Stefan was actually worried about her. She saw it in his eyes. Even though she didn't want to and wouldn't answer any questions about who 'Anthony' was, she could forgive Stefan's curiosity because at least with his curiosity there was something else.

She couldn't believe he was alive, but she needed to stop thinking about that, for her own sanity as well as preparing herself for what was eventually going to come- taking on Klaus and Elijah.

o-o-o-o-o-o-

Caroline gulped down a bloodbag, as she, Stefan, Damon and Elena sat in the living room of the Salvatore house.

Damon was about to say something but Stefan cut him off. "Not a word about anything related to Katherine- got it?" Stefan said.

"Somebody's an asshole today," Damon said to his brother.

"Yeah, I'm an asshole, great. Let's talk about that instead. It would give me less of a headache than the constant and _same _Katherine talk," Stefan said, sighing.

Damon actually grinned at how annoyed Stefan seemed.

"On your worst day, you couldn't be half the asshole that Damon is," Caroline said to Stefan, seeing Damon's grin.

"Thanks," Stefan said, laughing a bit.

Elena stared at Stefan for a moment and tried to smile. "You got to the tomb real quick after she started throwing her fit," she said, talking about Katherine.

Caroline cringed a bit. She could tell that Elena wasn't really happy at the moment. "Me and Stefan were walking close by," Caroline said, feeling the need to say something.

"I figured that much," Elena said, smiling at Caroline who she knew was just trying to diffuse a problem before it started.

"She was screaming my name. I thought something was majorly wrong," Stefan said, trying to explain.

Damon felt himself start to grin at the bit of tension between his brother and Elena and then he felt like a bit like an asshole and wiped the grin off of his face.

"It's good of you to care," Elena said quietly. "You're a good guy like that."

"Damon, I need your help with something. Let's go," Caroline said, getting up.

"What the hell would you want my help with?" Damon asked, rolling his eyes.

"Let's _go._Now," Caroline said, grabbing his hand and pulling him up.

"I knew you still wanted me," Damon said with a smirk.

"Ha! I stopped wanting you a _long_ time ago, ass-face. Don't flatter yourself," Caroline said as they walked out the door.

"Caroline, queen of subtlety," Stefan said, taking a breath.

"I'm sorry," Elena said. "I'm not mad at you."

"Yeah, you are," Stefan said gently, sighing.

"You didn't see her, though, Stefan. She _knew _you'd come. She didn't doubt it for a second."

"I'm not sure what you want me to say, Elena. I have the feeling that nothing I say is going to be right."

"I know that I'm going to sound like a bitch, and feel free to tell me that-"

"I'd never say that to you, Elena," Stefan.

"I know," Elena said, smiling a little, in spite of everything.

"Let it out. Say what you need to say," Stefan told her softly.

"I'll admit that Damon and I were clearly pissing her off, so as much as I wanted her to answer my questions I get that she didn't want to answer and that she wanted us gone," Elena said, taking a deep breath. "But-" Elena said, trying to find the right words.

"It doesn't matter if it doesn't sound like it makes sense. Just say what you're thinking. I'll understand it," Stefan told her.

"It was like she was saying 'fine, you're not going to leave on your own- not only am I gonna make you leave, but I'm gonna make your boyfriend come running to see what's wrong and be the one to actually make you leave.' It was like she was saying that she always gets what she wants- you included," Elena said, staring intently at her hands.

"Katherine can want me all she wants. _I _want _you._ If she's in trouble, yes, I'll help her. I don't want anything to happen to her, but she's not getting me, Elena."

"No, she's not. You're mine, and I don't share my guys," Elena said with a small grin.

"Have I ever told you that you're really hot when you're jealous?" Stefan whispered in Elena's ear, pulling her into his lap.

"Shut up," she said with a smirk, turning to face him "and kiss me."

"I love doing things that I already want to do," Stefan said, which earned him Elena's laughter in between kisses.

o-o-o-o-o-

"You must really be into me, Bonnie Bennett," Jeremy said, staring across the table with a grin.

"Cocky much?"

"You hate the arcade, yet you came and suggested it and took getting your ass handed to you at virtually every game very well. I'm thinking that I should feel very flattered."

Bonnie winked as she put the last spoonful of ice cream into her mouth. "You gonna finish yours?" she asked, pointing to the bowl of ice cream Jeremy had in front of him.

"All yours," he said, passing it over.

"Good man," Bonnie said, digging into what was left of Jeremy's ice cream.

"You look different," Jeremy said.

"What?" Bonnie asked, putting her spoon of ice cream down.

"It's like you're more energized. There's more of a glow I think. You seem stronger or something."

_I feel stronger too._ "I'm all energized because I got an awesome sleep," Bonnie said with a laugh.

"I honestly don't know how you slept that long," Jeremy said, laughing.

_I didn't actually sleep that long when you count the time that I spent kicking Damon's ass and listening to his drunk ramblings and then those hours this morning I spent practicing._"Need for sleep catches up with you eventually, I guess," Bonnie shrugged.

"Doing too much again, Judgey? Have you been staying up all hours of the night? Have you been spending hours at a time all absorbed in your witchy stuff?" Damon asked with a smirk, popping up, seemingly out of nowhere.

"You, come with me," Bonnie said, grabbing Damon's arm, putting on a smile for Jeremy.

Jeremy didn't look so happy.

"Ding-dong here owes me favour," Bonnie said to Jeremy, talking about Damon. "I'm craving this ice cream like crazy. I'm gonna make him buy me more," she grinned. "Be back in a minute."

"You're a jackass, did you know that?" Bonnie hissed at Damon.

"Oh relax Bon-Bon, baby Gilbert has no clue what I'm talking about," Damon said, rolling his eyes. "I'll keep my word, don't worry. I'll keep my mouth shut about our _extracurricular activities,"_Damon said suggestively, just wanting to see the look on Bonnie's face.

"Leave it up to you to make practicing magic sound like something dirty," Bonnie said, elbowing Damon, hard.

"Bitchy witchy- no need for violence," Damon said.

Bonnie snorted.

"What are you doing here anyway?" Bonnie asked.

"Blondie made me leave my own house so Stefan and Elena could fight about Katherine and make up."

"What?" Bonnie asked.

"Elena will tell you all about it after she's done making out with Stefan," Damon said.

"What can I get you?" the woman behind the counter asked.

"Nothing for me. It's for her," Damon said, pointing at Bonnie.

"Small caramel sundae," Bonnie said, reaching in her pocket.

"Make it a large," Damon said, handing the woman some money. "Keep your money in your pocket, Bennett. I got it. I _do _kind of owe you," Damon said, turning to leave.

Bonnie smiled a bit. "I'll see you later, Salvatore," Bonnie said, walking back to the table Jeremy was sitting at.

"It's a cross between amusing and weird seeing you two get along," Jeremy said.

"Me and him have been okay for awhile now- it's still weird to see?" Bonnie asked, laughing.

"Yeah, mostly cuz I can't help but remember you threatening to set him on fire all the time," Jeremy said, grinning at those memories.

"Well, he deserved it at the time," Bonnie said with a smirk.

"But not anymore- most of the time," Jeremy said. "He's got a special ability that one."

Bonnie laughed. "You mean everything's going well and then out of nowhere he does something to make you wanna smack him? Yes, special ability indeed."

"And now, on a totally unrelated note- we've got a dance in a couple weeks-"

"Yes Jeremy, I'll go with you," Bonnie said, flashing a smile at Jeremy, saving him the trouble of asking- which he was just going to do.

"Nice."

"It _is _gonna be nice. I'm eagerly awaiting seeing you all hot and dressed up," Bonnie said.

"Bonnie," a voice called out.

The voice was very familiar. She'd been hearing it pretty much since kindergarten- but it couldn't be. He couldn't be back. Bonnie turned around to prove to herself it wasn't who it sounded like. But when she turned around, she found that the voice belonged to exactly who she thought it did.

Tyler Lockwood was back.

Bonnie took some deep breaths to calm herself down. She was still furious with Tyler over his part in what had happened to Caroline.

"Hey man," Tyler said awkwardly to Jeremy.

Jeremy nodded back.

"Obviously you guys are in the middle of something. Sorry for interrupting, but could I just talk to you for a couple minutes, Bonnie? Please?" Tyler asked.

"Jeremy knows everything- you can talk in front of him," Bonnie said, fists clenched, repeating to herself over and over in her head to control her anger.

"Are you guys together?" Tyler asked.

"Is that your business?" Bonnie asked back with narrowed eyes. She was mad at this guy. She couldn't help but be bitchy. She couldn't help but want to kick his ass.

Bonnie saw the look on Jeremy's face- it was one of let down.

"Yeah me and Jeremy are together," Bonnie said, and the look on Jeremy's face changed to one that was happy. "But you're obviously not here to talk about that. Say what you need to say, Tyler. I'm not sure how long I can keep my temper in check."

"Bonnie," Jeremy said with a sigh. "Give him a chance. Hear him out. I'll let you guys talk. Just call me later," Jeremy said.

"You don't have to go," Bonnie said.

"I adore Caroline, but not in the same way either of you do- I don't belong in this conversation about her," Jeremy said, getting up.

Bonnie was quiet for a moment. If one was to just hear Jeremy's words and not really think about them, it might seem kind of cold. But Bonnie understood what he was saying and it wasn't cold at all. It was really kind of respectful actually.

Bonnie gave him a smile.

"Don't piss her off," Jeremy said to Tyler.

Tyler couldn't help but grin a little. "You gonna kick my ass if I do, Gilbert?"

"Yeah actually, I will," Jeremy said with a smirk. "But so will she, and that'll probably be far worse for you."

"Didn't I tell you that you'd find a guy that was good for you?" Tyler said, looking straight at Bonnie.

"We're not doing Bonnie and Tyler nostalgia time. Why are you here? Why are you back? Have you seen Caroline?" Bonnie said.

Tyler ignored her. "Didn't I?" he said again.

"_Hey Bonnie," Tyler said awkwardly._

"_Hi," Bonnie answered, feeling just as awkward._

"_Could we talk?"_

"_Yeah, sure," she said quietly._

"_Wanna walk?"_

"_Okay," Bonnie said, shutting her locker._

_They walked in silence until they got close to the football field. _

"_So, last night," Tyler started._

"_We were both drunk, Tyler. Please don't tell anyone. I don't need people thinking that I'm slutty."_

"_You think I'm that much of a jackass that I'd go tell everyone?"_

"_I didn't say that," Bonnie said, taking a deep breath. "I said please don't, just in case."_

"_I'm not gonna say anything, Bonnie."_

"_Thanks," she said quietly._

"_I didn't- I didn't hurt you, right?"_

"_No. No, no," Bonnie said quickly. _

"_Okay, good. There was some blood on my sheets, I was scared that I hurt you. It was either that or the other thing."_

"_I lost my virginity- drunk," Bonnie said, rubbing her temples. "Please, please don't say anything to anyone."_

"_Hey," he said gently. "I promise I won't say anything. Seriously."_

_Bonnie nodded. _

"_Can I ask you something?" Tyler said._

_Bonnie nodded again._

"Why _were you drunk last night?"_

"_Family stuff and Michael Zillio- stupid little bastard."_

"_What does that douche have to do with anything?"_

"_I kinda had a big thing for him. We were kinda together, actually," Bonnie said, rolling her eyes thinking about the guy._

"_Oh, I didn't know that."_

"_We're not exactly best buddies," Bonnie said, smiling a little bit._

"_We're buddies enough, though. Every class together since kindergarten. We got a bit of a buddy thing going on. Not to mention our bonding experience in detention."_

_Bonnie couldn't help but laugh. "Yeah, we do have a bit of a buddy thing. But pretty much no one besides Elena and Caroline knew about me and him- which right now, I'm really glad for... I heard him talking to his friend. He was telling him that the only reason he got with me was- well- to see how fast he could get me into bed. Well, needless to say- I dropped his ass real quick... I felt cheap and then my dad called and he pissed me off even more than I already was and well yeah, I got drunk and I think someone put something in my drink, and then you were there- and yeah."_

"_Zillio's an asshole."_

"_I absolutely agree," Bonnie said, "but I gotta say it, Lockwood- hypocrisy much?"_

"_Huh?"_

"_You telling me you haven't got with a girl just to see how fast you could get her to give it up and then brag to your friends about it?" Bonnie said._

"_No. I'm not a saint Bonnie. Most of the guys here aren't. Zillio's still an asshole though."_

"_Yes, but why? You've done the same thing he wanted to, to other girls."_

"_Because you're good. You're a _nice _girl, Bonnie. You're not flashing your stuff all over the place saying 'Here boys, come get it.' It's a dick move to pull crap like that with girls like you."_

"_Thanks... Guys suck."_

"_You're gonna find a guy that's good for you, Bennett. I guarantee it."_

"_You can be really nice sometimes," Bonnie said._

"_Don't tell anyone. Please," Tyler said, giving Bonnie a wink. "I don't want everyone to think I've gone soft."_

"_Your secret's safe with me."_

"Yeah, you did and you were right," Bonnie said. "But getting on my soft side isn't going to get you anywhere right now. Why are you back? Have you spoken with Caroline? Do you understand how bad you hurt her?"

"I got a call that my mom was in the hospital. That's why I'm here. But I couldn't be back here and not see Caroline or at least try to see her and tell her I was sorry. And I miss her. I fell for her and I fucked up really bad with her. I _know _that- and I don't have any stupid excuses. I was wrong. There's nothing else to it. I know she said she didn't want to see me, but I owe her an apology, a real one. I went to look for her, but she wasn't home. I tried your place and Elena's place too. I know she won't answer the phone if I call, so I haven't bothered with that. I figured I'd look around here for her or at least hopefully find you or Elena and maybe try to convince you guys to get her to see me for just a minute. I just want to tell her that I'm sorry, Bonnie. I want her to see that I mean it. I want to see her, even just for one minute. Can you call Caroline? Please Bonnie."

"No need to get on the phone, I'm right here," a quiet voice said.

Tyler turned around and saw Caroline.

"Hi," he said quietly, hands in his pockets.

"Hi," Caroline said back, looking at the ground.

"Do you want me to stay?" Bonnie asked Caroline.

"I think I need to talk to him alone," Caroline said.

"Okay," Bonnie said, giving Caroline a hug. "Call me later."

"Bye Bonnie," Tyler said.

"If you make her cry, I'm bringing Elena, Stefan, Damon and Caroline's mom here and we'll all takes turns kicking your ass. Please don't screw up again, Tyler," Bonnie said, walking away.

o-o-o-o-o-o-o

"Ugggh hold on phone- I'm coming," Jeremy mumbled, shoving the key into the lock.

He opened the door and grabbed the phone. "Hello."

"Is this Jonathan Gilbert?"

Something inside of Jeremy was telling him to say yes. He was curious about his uncle, maybe this would get him some answers. "Yes," he said, trying to sound older.

"This is Dr. Winters from the hospital, Dr. Lee had to leave early because of a family emergency, so I'm calling on his behalf. I couldn't seem to find your cell phone number so I used the other number you had on file. I hope it's alright that I call at this number."

"It's fine," Jeremy said.

"Your results are in."

"And what do they say?" Jeremy asked, trying to get information.

"I won't do this over the phone Mr. Gilbert. Why don't you come on in so we can discuss what's going on."

Jeremy's heart sunk a little bit. The hospital was calling his uncle and wouldn't talk about the results of whatever the hell tests on the phone. Something was not good.

Yeah, sure. I'll drop by when I have a bit of time. Maybe tonight," Jeremy said, hanging up the phone.

As soon as he hung up with the doctor from the hospital he dialled his uncle's cell phone.

"Hello."

"The hospital just called for you. Apparently you have some results ready, they want you to go in."

"What- why did they call the house?" John asked.

"They couldn't find your cell phone number," Jeremy said, taking a deep breath. "What's wrong with you?"

"Nothing."

"Really, if it was nothing why would the doctor refuse to talk about it over the phone?" Jeremy asked.

"I'm fine Jeremy. Is that all you wanted to tell me?"

"Are you sick or something?" Jeremy asked quietly.

"There's nothing to worry about," John said, trying to keep his voice sounding normal.

"You're dying or something, aren't you?" Jeremy said, his hand clenched into a fist. "That would explain you coming by and trying to make things good with me and Elena."

"I'm fine, Jeremy," John said again.

"Don't lie," Jeremy said, feeling a rush of emotions. "What do you have? Don't lie to me."

"Are you alone right now?" John asked.

"Yes."

"I'll come by. We can talk," John said. "Don't mention anything to Elena," he said, hanging up the phone.

Jeremy grabbed a plate from the table and threw it against the wall. John was an asshole, but he was family. Jeremy didn't want to lose anymore family, even if he couldn't stand the guy half the time.

Jeremy was pretty sure that his uncle was dying and he had no idea what to do.


	32. Chapter 32

o-0-o-0-o Chapter 32 is here! Thanks to celia, jgilbert4life, David Fishwick, Hooked-On-TVD and Marie for the reviews last chapter and to xPontax for favouriting. Hope everyone enjoys this chapter. Leave me a review and let me know what you think o-0-o-0-o

"I didn't think I'd be seeing you again," Caroline said, taking a deep breath, taking a seat at the table where Bonnie was a moment earlier.

"Something happened to my mom. She's in the hospital. That's why I'm in town. She's okay now, though."

"I'm glad she's okay," Caroline said.

"Thanks," Tyler said. "How are you?"

"I'm doing alright."

"Good," Tyler said, meaning it.

"Are you staying in town for long?" Caroline asked, keeping her eyes on her hands.

"I came to make sure my mom was okay. Don't worry, I'm not staying long. I'm gonna leave after I get my mom settled back at home, but I needed to see you before I leave."

"Here I am," Caroline said, still looking at her hands.

"I'm sorry, Caroline. I'm really sorry- there's no buts or excuses with it- I'm just so sorry that I let you down so badly. _Please_ believe that."

Caroline nodded as she got up. She hoped that her hair was at least partially covering her face because she felt water pooling in her eyes.

"I know you're sorry. I do believe you," she said quietly, moving away from the table.

"Where're you going?" Tyler asked, getting up.

"I've gotta go," Caroline said, trying very hard not to let the water that had pooled in her eyes come out as full-on tears. She was so happy to hear him say sorry- she was so happy to just see his face after everything and it didn't quite make sense.

"I mis-"

"You should try to see Matt before you leave town again," Caroline said quickly, not letting him finish what he was about to say.

"How is he?"

"He's doing well. Go see him Ty. He'll be happy to see you. He's never came out and said it, but he misses you," Caroline said, starting to walk away quickly.

"I will go see him. I was going to anyway. Kinda miss him too," Tyler said. "Are you guys together? Did he come to his senses?" Tyler asked her, following behind.

"We're together, and it's great. He's great. He's been really good about everything. He's handling everything well- you know, about me."

"That's good," Tyler said. "You're happy?"

"I am," she said, taking a deep breath and turning around suddenly. She had planned to just keep walking, but she couldn't. She had to turn around. She had to see him one more time before he left. She knew that when he left, he wasn't going to be coming back.

"When you leave- you're not coming back, are you?" she asked.

"No. I think it's best if I stay away from here," he told her, taking a deep breath.

"I hate that bitch Jules and I'd be happy to see her dead- but I hope she's been helping you. She's been helping you, right?" Caroline asked, flashing back to everything Tyler had gone through with his werewolf transformation.

"No, not really."

"What do you mean?" Caroline asked angrily, hatred for Jules quickly rising inside of her. "Why the hell isn't she helping you? The bitch screwed with your head and made you betray me and I was the one helping you before, helping you in whatever little way I could. She's like you, she actually can help you, like really help you. Why the hell hasn't she? Who's helping you? Are you okay?" Caroline said, pretty much all anger towards Tyler gone with the thought of him going through another transformation alone, going by day to day trying to figure out how to adjust by himself.

"She's not helping because I ditched her pretty quick," Tyler explained. "She kept saying how she wanted to and could help me, but it didn't take long before I couldn't stand looking at her anymore- after everything that happened... I'm okay Care. Don't worry about me," Tyler said, really not wanting her to worry, but more happy than he could ever express that she still was worried about him.

She had wanted to make a quick exit. She hadn't wanted to get emotional. She'd felt betrayed and angry and hurt by Tyler for quite awhile, but as soon as he had apologized to her, her emotions flooded through. She hadn't said it to anyone, hadn't even let herself _think _it, but she had missed Tyler and seeing him again made her realize it.

She took a few steps until she was in front of Tyler. She began to reach out to hug him, but as soon as he saw her reaching out, he pulled her in and hugged her tight. Relief coursed through Tyler. "I'm so sorry. I am so sorry, Caroline," he said, apologizing all over again for what had happened to her and his cowardly part in it.

"I know. I know, Tyler. It's okay now. I promise it's okay," she whispered as she eventually pulled away slowly.

"Take care of yourself, Tyler," she said, putting on a smile, as she wiped her eyes.

Slowly, he nodded. And then Caroline turned around and left. She needed to see her friends.

o-o-o-o-o-o-

"Do you think they're still talking right now?" Elena asked Bonnie, taking a seat next to the witch on Stefan and Damon's couch.

"I don't know," Bonnie said, sighing. "I'm worried about her, though. I mean who would have thought Tyler would pop back into town right now."

"Did she seem angry when she saw him?" Elena asked.

"No, not angry. Kinda nervous and sad, but not angry," Bonnie said, resting her head on Elena's shoulder.

"He was sorry- right? Like really, not BS sorry, but genuinely sorry?" Elena questioned.

"He was," Bonnie said. "He wasn't just saying that he was sorry- he really meant it. I wasn't very nice to him, but I don't doubt that he was sincere. He misses her and he came out and said what you and me had already figured out- he fell for her."

"Is he staying in town?" Elena asked, biting her lip.

"Nah, he's gonna leave soon I think. What are you thinking right now? You look worried."

"You're thinking the same thing I am," Elena told Bonnie.

"She's gonna forgive him."

"Exactly," Elena said. "And that's not a bad thing in itself- it's actually a good thing, even though I still want to kick his ass. It's good for Care to forgive him cuz I know that carrying that betrayal around was not good for her. But now I'm a bit worried-"

"About Matt and Care?" Bonnie said, finishing for Elena.

"Yeah," Elena said, resting her head on top of Bonnie's which was on her shoulder.

"Care loves Matt," Bonnie said.

"Oh, I _ know _ that," Elena said. "Trust me, I know that. It's obvious she loves him-"

"But for awhile there we kinda thought something might happen with her and Ty."

"Exactly," Elena said. "You think she still has feelings for him? I think if she's going to forgive him, it's gonna open up the part of her that could have or started to fall Tyler before."

"I kinda think the same thing," Bonnie said.

"What I know for sure is that she's probably overwhelmed and confused."

"I told her to call me later. If we don't hear from her, we'll give her a call. We'll hang," Bonnie said.

"Should we slumber it again?" Elena asked.

"Yeah, if you guys are up for it. Keep in mind we have class in the morning. You know we're gonna stay up late if we do the whole sleepover thing and you and Care are so _not _gonna wake up in the morning."

"Uggh, I forgot tomorrow was Monday," Elena sighed. "Well, whatever. If Care needs us, I don't care if we're late for school."

"Good answer," Bonnie said.

The door to the Salvatore house opened and Caroline walked in. "I think I need a hug," she said to her two best friends.

Bonnie and Elena moved away from each other slightly so that Caroline could sit down between them and get a double hug.

"Am I rounding up the gang to go kick Lockwood's ass?" Bonnie asked, hoping to get a smile.

"No," Caroline said, sighing. "No need to hurt him. I forgave him. I'm happy I saw him, but this part of me wishes he had never come back here."

Bonnie and Elena looked at each other of Caroline's head.

"I've missed him," Caroline said quietly.

Bonnie and Elena each took one of their blonde friend's hand in their own and gave it a gentle squeeze.

o-o-o-o-o-

"So you're telling me that you've been sick for awhile now and kept your mouth shut while you went through treatments and procedures and the results that the doctor was calling about are going to tell you if your treatment has been working or not?" Jeremy asked his uncle, pacing up and down the kitchen.

"Yes."

"Well, hurry up. Let's go to the hospital," Jeremy said.

"I didn't want you to know about this Jeremy. I didn't want you to worry."

"I would have figured it out. Me and Elena knew there was something up with you."

"Do _not _tell her anything. Do you understand me?" John said seriously.

"She has a right to know," Jeremy insisted.

"All I wanted was to spend some time with you guys- show you that there's more to me than just an asshole. I didn't want you to know that I might be dying. I don't want sympathy, I just want my family- and not because they're feeling sorry for me. You figured things out, so I'm telling you the truth. But you're not going to tell Elena. I mean it, Jeremy."

"And what's gonna happen if Elena does soften towards you? What happens when you two maybe do get closer? What happens when she starts to care? What happens when she can call you her father without rolling her eyes when saying it? What happens when you two get to a point where she'd miss you? What if you get close and then she finds out you're gonna die? You're just going to hurt her by not telling her now," Jeremy said.

"I don't know anything for sure yet. I might be fine," John said.

"Let's go find out for sure. Come on," Jeremy said, grabbing his uncle's arm. "The doctor is still there."

o-o-o-o-o-o-

Stefan slammed his fist against the tree when he saw his brother heading back in the direction of the tomb. Stefan had been on his way to Lexi's burial site, just wanting to sit next to where she was for a few minutes to clear his head a bit, to tell her what was up- but so much for that plan now.

Damon walked into the tomb. Katherine had pissed him off before. She was a royal bitch to him and he just wanted to piss _her_ off right now. Stefan would be mad, but he didn't care. Damon was over Katherine, he was pretty sure- but what she said had stung and pissed him off, especially in front of Elena. Everyone already knew Katherine loved Stefan and not him, but did she have to rub it in in-front of Elena with her stupid comment about how if she didn't even want to see _Stefan_, why the hell would she want to see Damon? There was no more nice, sweet Damon for Katherine. She didn't get to humiliate him.

"I'm back," Damon called out in a sing-song voice.

Katherine didn't answer him.

"Come on man-eater, be polite and say hello," Damon taunted.

Katherine rolled her eyes in the back of the tomb and kept silent.

"What's it like knowing that the guy who knocked you up is still alive and kicking? I wonder what he would think if he knew that his precious bitch hates the girl that's descended from you both. What's your story with the mystery man? Did you steal him from the girl next door? Did you get him drunk and seduce him and get knocked up so that you could have him all to yourself? So young and already a tramp. I can just picture it," Damon said, just wanting to be mean.

Katherine rushed to the entrance of the tomb, ready to beat the crap out of Damon, rage burning inside of her, but she was knocked back by the invisible barrier that kept her trapped inside.

Katherine picked up the biggest rock she could find and threw it straight at Damon's head. "You are _so_ lucky that I'm stuck in here right now, Damon Salvatore," Katherine hissed.

Damon scoffed.

"What the hell are you doing here again, Damon?" Stefan asked, walking into the tomb, wondering what Damon had said to make Katherine so mad.

"Your brother likes to talk shit about things he has _no_ knowledge of," Katherine said angrily.

"Damon, seriously, get the hell out of here," Stefan said.

"You're back here again, little brother? I don't think Elena will be too happy that you're running to Miss Katherine's aid again in a matter of hours," Damon said with a smirk. "It seems like your spending quite a bit of time with her."

"Don't talk about Elena to me like I'm doing her wrong," Stefan said angrily. "I was going to see Lexi, you know, my dead best friend- and then I saw your trouble-making ass come here. I came to stop you before you did or said something stupid. Apparently I didn't get here in time for that."

Damon rolled his eyes.

"Damon just let it be. Leave this alone. Don't come back here. Being around her is clearly not a good thing for you, man. You don't need it. She doesn't need it. Let's just go," Stefan said, taking a deep breath.

"Fine. I want a drink anyway," Damon said, walking out.

"I'm coming with you," Stefan said, following him.

"Relax, goody-two-shoes. I'm not gonna come back and bug the bitch. You don't have to babysit the big brother."

"I'm not coming to babysit. I'm coming because I would love a drink right about now. You've given me a huge headache today and I'd like to get rid of it," Stefan said.

Damon couldn't help but laugh a bit. It was always a little funny when Stefan was mad at him.

Stefan pissed him off for interrupting his 'pissing-off Katherine time' but he wasn't mad at his brother. Katherine though, he still wanted to see her squirm. He wanted to make her uncomfortable.

Damon pulled out his cell phone and did something he knew his little brother would hate and something Katherine would probably want to kill him for, judging by the way she reacted whenever the mystery guy was brought up. Damon punched in the phone number that Elena had shown him in her phone. The number Anthony had put there.

He wrote 'I know where Katherine is' and pushed send.


	33. Chapter 33

o-0-o-0-o Here's the new chapter. Thanks to laugh4life, David Fishwick, Marie, Anna-Lisa and celia for reviewing. Hope everyone likes this chapter. Leave me a review and let me know what you think o-0-o-0-o

Stefan and Damon had parted ways and Damon was now reading the text message he had just received. It was a response from Anthony. All it said was 'Who is this?'

Damon keyed in his response. 'Someone who knows where she is.'

'Fine. Where are you?' the next message said.

Damon took a deep breath and paused for a minute. The thought at the back of his mind made its way to the forefront of his thoughts. There had been a tiny voice telling him not to respond to Anthony, a very small voice. But then he told himself the guy couldn't be that horrible if Katherine said that Elena had nothing to be worried about from him. Damon told himself that it was just that Katherine hated Anthony- there was nothing to really feel bad about by calling him to Mystic Falls to make Katherine squirm. She deserved it- Damon didn't need to feel bad.

'Mystic Falls,' Damon wrote.

'I'll be there very soon.'

This was going to be interesting.

o-o-o-o-o-o

"I'm sorry, guys," Caroline said. "I know we've got school tomorrow, but I just wanna walk," she told her two best friends.

"You're more important than school," Elena said.

"Yeah, and we've got Alaric first thing in the morning. I'm sure he'll go easy on us," Bonnie said with a grin. "Elena can pull the Jenna card. It's all good."

Caroline chuckled.

"Okay, now one of you, explain to me fully what happened before," Bonnie said. "Damon told me a bit really quick before when we were waiting in line for ice cream."

Caroline burst out laughing. "You went for ice cream with Damon? I'm just picturing Damon with those little spoons and eating ice cream from the little plastic cup things."

Elena laughed too.

Bonnie rolled her eyes and grinned. "I didn't go for ice cream with Damon. Jeremy and I finished up from the arcade and I was craving ice cream so we went. We were sitting at the table and then Damon came by and I still wanted more ice cream so he was talking to me at the counter. He said you, Miss Care Bear dragged him out of the house so that Miss E. here could fight and make up with Stefan. What the hell happened? He said it was something to do with Katherine."

Caroline and Elena explained what had happened and Bonnie sighed.

"I know Stefan's gonna be mad, but I really want Katherine to tell me who Anthony is. That guy is her baby's father, I'm practically sure of it. I want her to tell me for sure. He's actually a nice guy. Having him be related to me would kinda be cool. I just want to know the truth."

Bonnie took a deep breath. "Elena, just leave her alone. She's not going to answer you. I know you're curious babe, but she's not going to give you answers. Just let her be."

"You sound like Stefan."

"That would be because your boyfriend and I are very smart people," Bonnie said, grinning.

"What do you think, Care?" Elena asked.

"I'm kind of on the fence," she said. "I think Bonnie's right, but maybe this time she'll answer you. Who knows?"

Bonnie's phone rang. It was Damon. She took a couple steps away from Caroline and Elena and picked up.

"Hey. What's up?" she answered.

"Where are you?" he asked her.

"What's wrong?" she asked, suddenly getting a bad feeling.

"Who're you talking to?" Caroline asked.

"I think I just did something stupid," Damon said- Bonnie could just picture him cringing as he spoke.

"B, is everything okay?" Elena asked.

"Guys, I'm really sorry- I gotta go," Bonnie said. "Don't worry, I just have something to do," she said, quickly walking away. "I'll call you soon."

Bonnie took a breath and then got back to Damon. "Where are you? And what did you do? Please tell me you didn't-"

"I didn't kill anyone. Chill, Judgey," Damon said.

"Okay, good. Again, though, where are you? And what's up?"

"I'm outside of the tomb," Damon said. "Just come meet me, or where are you? I'll come find you. I'll tell you when I see you."

"I'm not far. I'm coming," she said, hanging up.

Bonnie quickened her pace so that she could get to the tomb as soon as possible. She really wanted to know what was happening. She was relieved he hadn't done what she automatically thought he had done- she did not have the energy to deal with that right now.

When Bonnie got to the tomb she saw that Damon was pacing back and forth.

"Okay- so I was all happy and giddy about doing what I did and now I'm thinking I fucked up big time. I tried calling the guy back and saying that I was just bullshitting, but he's not answering the phone. She pissed me off you know, and let's be honest I was willing and wanted to kill her before, but if this guy is lying about wanting to look out for her and he's some kind of freak- I don't love the bitch anymore, but I don't want some guy to come kill her, okay. I wanna make her miserable most of the time and she deserves it because she's a selfish, manipulative, bitch-"

"What the hell are you talking about? What happened?" Bonnie said, cutting Damon off.

"Don't tell Elena or Stefan. Stefan's gonna be freakin' pissed and even Elena is probably gonna be mad."

"What did you do?" Bonnie asked again. "Tell me now or else you might be getting a really bad headache in the next few seconds."

"I sent that Anthony guy a message saying that I knew where Katherine was. I told him she was here in Mystic Falls. The guy is on the way and now I'm thinking I really shouldn't have done it- but Katherine really pissed me off."

Bonnie put her head in her hands.

"Call him again," Bonnie said. "Tell him you were lying. Leave a damn message."

Damon's phone rang.

"Answer it," Bonnie said. "Maybe it's him."

"It's not him," Damon said. "It's Stefan."

"Answer your phone, Salvatore," Bonnie said.

"Yeah?" Damon said, answering the phone.

"What the hell did you do, Damon?" Stefan asked, practically yelling on the other end of the phone.

"What are you talking about?"

"Anthony just called me, and I don't know how the hell he got my number by the way," Stefan said. "He asked me if Katherine had shown up back in town- I told him no, of course. But then he said he was coming back to find out for himself because either I was lying or someone named Damon was. He said he was close-by."

Damon didn't respond.

"Why the hell did you tell this guy Katherine was here?" Stefan asked, pissed. "Where are you?"

"I was mad at her, okay. I wanted to piss her off," Damon said.

"She doesn't want to see the guy. Where are you?"

"Beside the tomb with Bonnie," Damon said.

Stefan hung up without another word.

Damon turned back to Bonnie. "I don't know why you two both think this is all going to turn out in disaster," Damon said.

"The two of us?" Bonnie said. "The three of us- you're freaking out too," Bonnie said, annoyed, as she made her way into the tomb.

"Katherine," she called out.

"What do you want, Bennett?" Katherine asked, coming into view, looking pissed off.

"Who the hell is Anthony? Damon told him you were in Mystic Falls and he's apparently close-by. Now we're all kinda freaking out. And _this_ idiot is feeling bad that he might possibly be getting you killed or something," she said, pointing at Damon.

"You better call him and tell him that you're a fucking liar, Damon. Tell him you don't know where I am," Katherine said.

"Who the hell is he?" Damon yelled.

Bonnie's phone rang again and she answered, but she couldn't hear what Elena was saying so she walked out of the tomb.

"Hey," she said.

"Bonnie, what's going on? Where'd you go?"

"Elena, don't worry," Bonnie said.

"Stefan and Anthony both just called me," Elena said.

"Okay, listen. Damon told Anthony that Katherine's in town. Stefan's pissed, Katherine's pissed. Anthony's apparently on his way but Damon is going to call him again and say he was lying. That's what's up, but don't worry. I've gotta go. I'll call you soon," Bonnie said, hanging up.

Bonnie walked into the tomb again. "Did you call him back?" she asked Damon.

"He's not answering," Damon told her. "I left a message though."

"Call again," Bonnie and Katherine said at the same time.

o-o-o-o-o-o-

"Bonnie said not to worry, but it sounds like something is gonna go down," Elena said to Caroline. "I think she's with Damon right now."

"Well, let's go find them. If something's gonna go down, I don't wanna miss it," Caroline said.

"I think they're at the tomb."

"Let's go," Caroline said.

o-o-o-o-o-

"Damon, call again, leave another message that you were just kidding. He doesn't need to know she's in Mystic Falls," Bonnie said again.

"Witchy, I just called the guy 3 times in a row," Damon muttered.

Katherine was cursing under her breath and throwing every rock she could find against the walls of the tomb.

"I'm really glad that you had a phone call to take. It allowed me to spot you, Bonnie- and Mr. Damon here. You and Stefan lied to me, Bonnie."

Damon sped around to see who had just arrived. Bonnie simply cringed. She didn't need to turn around at all. She remembered that voice. It was Anthony.

"Hello Anthony," Bonnie said, taking a deep breath, turning around.

Damon and Bonnie had seemingly forgotten about Katherine. Anthony hadn't seen her yet. Katherine was speechless. She couldn't move. She couldn't believe he was here.

"I'm very disappointed in you Bonnie, and Stefan too. I had actually come to believe you- and now I know you've been lying. I'm really disappointed in you. You shouldn't have tried to keep me from Katerina," he said moving closer to Bonnie.

"Leave her alone man," Damon said, moving closer to Bonnie also.

Bonnie was totally unprepared for what happened next, so she was unable to do anything to stop it. She was caught completely off-guard.

Anthony charged at Bonnie and went straight for her neck. He grabbed her shoulders and bit down.

Bonnie was too shocked to react quickly enough.

Damon lunged at Anthony and tried to rip him away from Bonnie.

Katherine just stared, still too caught up and shocked by the fact that he was here.

"Get the fuck off!" Damon yelled, trying to pull Anthony away from Bonnie.

"What's going on?" Stefan shouted, running into the tomb.

He saw immediately what was going on and joined his brother in trying to take down Anthony. "Stop it, you psycho," he yelled.

Damon and Stefan managed to pry Anthony away from Bonnie for a moment, but Anthony sprang back at her quickly.

Bonnie was able to muster up enough energy inside herself to send Anthony flying into the cave wall of the tomb.

"Stay the hell away from me," Bonnie said, holding onto her neck.

Elena and Caroline ran into the tomb, just as Anthony was hitting the wall.

"How bad is it, Judgey?" Damon asked Bonnie, moving towards her.

Stefan, seeing that Damon was going to help out Bonnie, stood guard in front of Anthony.

Elena and Caroline looked from Stefan and Anthony to Bonnie and Damon.

Elena nearly started to hyperventilate.

Bonnie moved her hand away from her neck and showed Damon the bloody mess.

Damon closed his eyes for a second and took a deep breath. He bit into his wrist and held out his arm to Bonnie.

She looked at him, hesitating for a second.

"Oh come on Judgey, you're _very _familiar with this stuff by now," Damon said.

Bonnie hoped no one had heard that.

"My blood's faster than your magic right now. Take it," Damon said.

Bonnie took Damon's wrist and swallowed some of his blood.

"Thanks," she said, feeling better quickly.

Elena and Katherine not only looked exactly alike in their appearance- but also in their reactions of shock.

Elena stood, shocked and quiet, not really believing her eyes.

The difference between Elena and Katherine was that Elena snapped out of it pretty quickly.

"What the _hell _is going on? Are you okay Bonnie?" Elena asked.

Katherine didn't believe what she was seeing. _Maybe, I'm going crazy. Maybe I'm not really awake._

Katherine closed her eyes and decided to keep them closed for a couple minutes. Maybe when she'd open her eyes again, this would all prove to only be in her imagination.

"I'm okay now," Bonnie said, approaching her friends as Anthony started to get back up.

Caroline ran to hug Bonnie and Elena flashed her a smile, but quickly headed to place herself in between Anthony and the others.

She hoped that maybe if it was her who was standing in front of him- he wouldn't do anything else.

"Elena, move away. The guy's gone nuts," Stefan said.

Anthony opened his eyes wide, but all he saw was some random person standing in between him and Stefan- he didn't see Elena.

Stefan saw the look in Anthony's eyes and immediately moved towards Elena to get her away from him.

Anthony, in his rage over being deceived by Bonnie and Stefan threw Elena to the ground.

Stefan charged at Anthony and growled.

In a matter of seconds the tomb was filled with a brawl. Stefan, Damon and Caroline were three-way attacking Anthony.

Bonnie ran to Elena and felt dread run through her when she saw her best friend.

Elena's head was bleeding. When Anthony threw her to the side, she clearly had hit her head. Elena was out cold.

"Shit!" Bonnie cursed. She got up and reluctantly left Elena. "One of you needs to go give her some blood. It should heal her faster than magic right now," she said to Stefan, Damon and Caroline.

Stefan immediately ran to Elena's side and Bonnie took up Stefan's spot. Clearly, she wouldn't be any real help in actually fighting Anthony, but she lent some of her magic to keep him under control.

Stefan put Elena's head into his lap and quickly bit into his wrist. He made sure that his blood made its way down her throat.

"Come on baby, open your eyes," he said.

It wasn't long before Elena's eyes opened up.

"Good," Stefan said, placing a kiss on her forehead. "I'll be right back, okay?"

Elena nodded.

"Keep him still," Stefan said, pulling something out from his pocket.

"What the hell is that?" Damon asked, staring at the syringe his brother.

"Something that will hopefully keep this idiot down for awhile," Stefan said, sticking the syringe into Anthony.

"Vervain?" Caroline said.

"Yep," Stefan answered.

Anthony slumped to the ground.

"Hopefully he hasn't been sipping the stuff for 5 centuries like Katherine was," Stefan said. "The stuff isn't going to keep him down for long even if he hasn't.

"Let's get this psycho to our cellar," Damon said.

Stefan went back to Elena and helped her get up. Caroline and Bonnie headed in the same direction.

"We've got her. You go help Damon get that guy out of here," Caroline said.

"Oh fuck!" Damon swore.

Stefan whipped around. Anthony was getting back up again.

Damon was about to push him back down, but it was too late, he was back up again.

Anthony shoved Damon to the ground and lunged at Stefan, taking him to the ground.

This is when Katherine finally opened her eyes again. She hadn't been imagining it. He was really here, and now he was attacking Stefan!

_Hell no!_

Katherine got up immediately and found her voice.

"Get the hell off him right now!" she yelled.

All heads turned towards Katherine. Anthony's jaw dropped.

"If you so much as _touch _him- I _promise_ you that when I get out of here I will hunt you down and annihilate you," Katherine hissed.

Anthony was in awe. He couldn't believe that he was seeing her again. He walked towards her, stunned.

"Katerina," he said quietly.

"Stefan, are you okay?" Katherine asked, ignoring Anthony, grinding her teeth.

"I'm fine," Stefan answered.

"You're asking if he's okay? Do you know that's he's been trying to keep me away from you, Katerina? You're in danger and I want to help. I want to keep you safe and he's trying to keep me away," Anthony said.

"He's been trying to keep you away because I asked him to! I didn't ever want to see your face again," she yelled. "I'm not an idiot, you dumbass. I know that Elijah and Klaus want me dead. I've kept my ass alive for over 5 centuries now. I don't need your help and I don't want your help. What I want is for you to leave here and never come back," she spat.

"I'm not going to leave and just let them kill you. I owe you more than that," he said quietly.

"You're damn right you owe me," she said. "So listen to me when I say that I want you gone and that I never want to have to look at your face again."

"I can't go- not when I know that there are people after you. I promise that I will leave when all of this is over if you still want me to."

"I'm not some helpless girl anymore Anton!" Katherine screamed. "We're not in Bulgaria. I'm not human. I can protect myself just fine. And if I could get out of here right now- I would tear you apart. Do me a favour and stake yourself- make your death stick this time around- since shooting yourself in the head all those years ago didn't seem to do the trick!"

Stefan, Elena, Damon, Bonnie and Caroline all watched and listened. No one knew what to say.


	34. Chapter 34

o-0-o-0-o Chapter 34 is here. I've had a couple people ask me about how long I plan to keep the story going. I do not know for sure, but I have at the VERY LEAST another 5 chapters. I'm not sure of anything for 100% sure yet, I could have many more chapters to come lol, who knows. Thanks so much to Raya, David Fishwick, Marie, laugh4life, Hooked-On-TVD, Amanda Renrouge and Akasha Hallows25 for reviewing. I really hope you enjoy this chapter. Leave me a review and let me know what you think o-0-o-0-o

Anton looked down at his feet, silent.

Katherine didn't want to hear his voice, but there was something she needed to know.

"Who the hell turned you?" Katherine asked Anton.

"I don't know," he said quietly.

"You sure about that?" she asked. "Because I'm thinking that you had it all planned out. It would have been kinda smart, actually. You kill yourself and then I'd feel guilty and maybe I'd forgive you, right? But you wouldn't actually be dead because you had damn vampire blood in your system. Guess what," she said.

"What?" Anton asked quietly.

"I didn't forgive you," Katherine said, making sure she looked him in the eye as she said it.

"I figured that much," he answered.

"Leave now," she said.

"I really don't know who turned me. When I did what I did, I didn't think I'd be coming back. I was supposed to be dead, Katerina."

"Whatever. I really don't care," Katherine told him.

"I'll go, but I'm not leaving this town. I'm not going to let them get you," Anton said, walking towards the tomb's exit.

"I don't need you. Don't come back here Anton," Katherine said.

"I found out about what Andrei and his father did," Anton said, turning around before leaving.

"Excuse me?" Katherine said, jaw dropping and her tone completely changing.

"I killed him."

"You sure he stayed dead? You're not too great with the whole death thing," Katherine said cooly, regaining her composure.

"Trust me, he's dead. He's been dead for over five centuries," Anton told her.

"Good," Katherine said, trying to sound bored. "Now get the hell out of here."

Anton was about to say something else but Stefan and Damon both turned around at the same time and said "Leave."

Anton turned in Damon's direction. "_You_ want me to leave? You're the one who told me she was here."

"I was pissed at her," Damon said, shrugging.

"Yet you stick up for her now," Anton said, grinning sadly. "You turned the both of them?" he asked Katherine.

"Yep," she answered.

"And they were in love with you, of course," he said out loud, but not really meaning to- it was more of a thought.

Everyone except Katherine looked uncomfortable at hearing that comment.

"They loved you and were turned by you- that's quite the link they have to you," Anton commented. "Did you love them back- both of them I mean? It's pretty obvious you still love one of them" he said to Katherine.

She gave him a wicked smile. "I've been with both of them. I've only ever been in love with one of them, but both mean more to me than _you_ ever will or did," she said, wanting to make him mad so badly.

As pissed off as she was with Damon for bringing Anton here in the first place, she didn't want to make him feel bad in front of Anton. Anton would be the only one feeling like crap right now.

Anton opened his mouth to say something, but Elena cut him off this time. "You need to go."

Anthony turned his head, and looked surprised.

"When did you get here?" he asked Elena.

"Seriously?" Elena said. "I was the one you threw across the room."

"Oh," he said. "I'm sorry," he said sincerely. "I really didn't see you. I was too focused-"

"Whatever. Just leave. No one wants you here. Go away and don't come back," Elena told him.

Having Elena look at him with shame and anger made Anton feel like dirt. He hated the idea that this girl might hate him. He didn't want that at all. He couldn't stand it if she did.

"My little twin even wants you gone. You should really get the hint by now- hit the road," Katherine said.

"You have people after you- who want to kill you. Do you really think _she's _not in danger also?" Anton said.

Katherine rolled her eyes. "Her whole little gang's got her back. She's fine."

"I don't think someone who looks exactly like you is going to be fine," Anton countered. "Not when there's ancient vampires involved."

"She's _fine_," Katherine said again, through gritted teeth.

"I won't leave when you both need my help."

"_Neither_ of them need your help," Stefan said, seriously getting sick of hearing Anton's voice.

"It's my duty to stay here and make sure you both are okay. It's my duty to help you," Anton said to Katherine, ignoring Stefan.

Bonnie and Caroline just watched in silence. Neither of them had said a word. They were too absorbed in the drama.

_He's talking about duty and helping me over 500 years after the time I could have actually used his help. Talking like he's good. Like this will actually ever make up for anything. Asshole! _

"You're a fucking bastard, did you know that?" Katherine spat. "You're a sorry excuse for a man."

"I'm trying to help," Anton yelled. "And you can't blame me for wanting to. I messed up with you so bad- but good God, do you know how long have I loved you? Do you understand that there hasn't been a day for over 5 centuries that I haven't thought about you- that I haven't thought about the baby."

"Get the fuck out of here!" Katherine screamed. "I'm not having this damn conversation with you."

"Listen, I know I don't have a right to make a claim on that baby- but half of that child was me. I never saw that child-"

"Am I supposed to feel bad for you, you little bastard? You never saw that child- that was your own fucking doing. Despite what you did to me, you worthless loser, if you were there when I had her, when I _needed_ someone to help me keep my baby from getting taken away- I would have let you see her. I didn't get to _see _my kid til she was nearly 3 years old- and _I'm_ the one who gave birth to her. Don't you _dare _try to get sympathy from me. _I_ carried that baby for 9 months- _I_ spent 18 friggin' hours in agony til she came out, and _I_ didn't even get to hold her. My father took her and gave her away and then kicked my ass out of the house and country a couple days after that. Don't you _ever_ try to make me feel sorry for you," Katherine hissed, she could not control herself. Memories were flooding through her head. It was like she was back in Bulgaria all over again.

"I'm sorry," Anton said. "I'm really sorry."

Katherine walked to the back of the tomb without saying one more word. She didn't want to be seen like this. She couldn't believe that she'd burst out like that in front of everyone.

Anton turned back to Elena. "I'm going. I'll stay out of your way, but I'm sticking around town. Katerina has every right to hate me, but I hate that she hates me. I don't want you to hate me, also. I know that you're angry with me for what I did earlier, but I really do want to help you. I haven't had any family in centuries and then I found out who you were- I don't want anything to happen to you. You're my blood, Elena."

"Someone finally said it," Elena whispered.

"My number isn't going to change. Call me if you need me. Let me know if _she _needs me, because I know she won't do it herself," he said.

"_I _don't need you and _she_ doesn't need you. You don't give the annoying brat enough credit- she's a Petrova- we pull through, we survive. Now get gone- preferably forever," Katherine yelled from the back of the tomb, unable to keep her mouth shut.

Anton finally left.

"That was crazy," Damon mumbled.

"Wow," Caroline said.

"Let's go," Elena told the others, massaging her temples.

"Yeah, everyone. Let's get out," Stefan said. "I'm sure she doesn't want anyone in here."

Stefan, Damon, Bonnie and Caroline all exited the tomb. Elena stayed behind a minute longer, staring into the tomb after Katherine. Her head had been pounding since she'd opened her eyes again after Stefan gave her his blood. It felt like there was information inside her head and like it was knocking on her brain's door saying 'let me in.' This feeling was familiar, she'd had it before- but it was so strong right now. There was something about Katherine or having to do with Katherine that she was supposed to know.

Elena shook her head and sighed.

"I'm sure you know that I made a deal with Elijah and that he plans to kill Klaus. But if Klaus really wants you dead so badly, he could get to you before Elijah deals with him- and then there's Elijah himself. If he wants to kill you too, maybe you should take up Anthony or Anton or whatever his name is on his offer to help you. I know you're strong, but if the Originals are really after you- you should take any help you can get, Katherine."

"Just go home, Elena," Katherine said tiredly, not moving from her spot at the back of the tomb.

Elena turned and left.

o-o-o-o-o-o-o-

Jeremy sat in the waiting area at the hospital. John was in one of the rooms talking with the doctor.

The waiting was driving Jeremy insane. He was nervous for his uncle.

He looked down at his watch. Apparently he'd only been waiting for five minutes. It felt more like five hours.

Jeremy sat there for another five minutes, punching random numbers into his phone, learning a bunch of new area codes in the process. He was just trying to make the time go by quickly.

After what felt like forever, John finally walked out of the room he had been in with the doctor.

"So?" Jeremy asked, getting up.

"You're going to be stuck with me for awhile," John said with a grin.

Relief washed over Jeremy. "Good," he said quietly, but John heard it.

o-o-o-o-o-o-o

Bonnie pulled Damon to the side and asked "What are you doing at midnight?"

Damon raised his eyebrow. "That's pretty specific."

"Answer the question," she whispered.

"Nothing, I guess. Why?"

"Good. You're coming over. I want to practice some more."

"What don't you remember about me telling you that there wasn't going to be anymore of your psycho witchy trances for the day?" Damon said.

"I remember that perfectly well," Bonnie said with a grin. "You said for today, midnight is actually tomorrow."

Damon rolled his eyes. "I'm really starting to think you might be crazy, Judgey."

"I'll see you in a bit. I've got to go see Jeremy, but I'll be back home by midnight- so don't be late," she told him.

"Going to see your boyfriend but then coming home to me. Tsk tsk Miss Bennett. Naughty naughty," Damon smirked.

It was Bonnie's turn to roll her eyes.

"I'll see you later," she told him before walking over to Caroline and Elena to say her goodbyes for the night.

"How did Anthony know where the tomb was?" Stefan asked Damon.

"I guess he was walking around, looking for someone. Bonnie left the tomb to take a call on her phone and he saw her and followed her back in," Damon said.

"Did he just walk in and attack her, or what? What happened before I got in there?" Stefan asked.

"He came in blabbing about how you and Bonnie were liars or something. He was pissed because he believed you guys when you said you didn't know where Katherine was. The psycho flipped and attacked her. I didn't see it coming. Judgey didn't see it coming either."

"I don't want that guy near anyone," Stefan said.

"By the way- are you okay?" Damon asked.

"I'm fine. He didn't do much damage."

"Good," Damon said.

"You gonna leave Katherine alone now?" Stefan asked.

Damon nodded. "Yeah. I didn't get any enjoyment out of that crap in there."

"Goodnight, Stefan," Bonnie called out.

"Goodnight Bonnie," he said back.

"Bye Psycho," Bonnie said to Damon, grinning.

"Bye Bitchy," he said back.

In spite of everything that had happened today, for both of them, Caroline and Elena grinned at Bonnie and Damon's goodbye. Those two never failed to amuse.

Caroline's phone rang. It was Matt. "Hey babe," she answered. "That's good. I'm really glad you guys talked. How was it?"

'What's she talking about?' Damon mouthed to Elena as they walked towards Caroline's house.

Stefan saw this and rolled his eyes at his brother. "Don't be nosy," he said.

Elena laughed.

"Yeah, Tyler came to see me," Caroline said, sighing. "It was good to see that he was alright."

Damon was actually legitimately shocked. Tyler was back in town?

"Love you too. I'll see you at school in the morning," Caroline said, hanging up.

"Lockwood's back in town?" Damon asked, getting straight to the point.

"Yeah, but he's not staying," Caroline said.

"Is that bitch with him?"

"No. He broke away from her," Caroline said.

"Why's he here?" Damon asked.

"His mom's in the hospital. Something happened. He's leaving once he gets her settled back at home."

"You saw him?"

"Yeah, and he apologized."

"And you just forgave him?" Damon said.

"Drop it, Damon," Elena said.

"You're way too forgiving," Damon told Caroline.

"You shouldn't criticize me for that- it served _you _well didn't it? I forgave _you_ for what you did to me," Caroline reminded him.

"Okay. New topic," Stefan said, before Damon or Caroline could say anything else.

"How about my family tree, huh?" Elena said, trying to switch the subject quickly, seeing that Caroline was not in the mood to be talking about Tyler with Damon. "That's definitely something interesting."

Caroline snorted. "John, Isobel, Katherine and now Anthony-"

"What a lovely group I come from. And then the two family members who are alive that I _actually_ love aren't what I thought they were my whole life. My brother is actually my cousin, and my aunt is not even technically related to me."

"I actually really don't know how the hell you come from those people," Damon said.

"This is my stop," Caroline said when they were in front of her house.

"Get some sleep," Elena said, hugging her friend.

"You too," Caroline told her. "Bye guys," she said to Stefan and Damon.

"What did you say to Katherine before?" Damon asked Elena.

"When?" Elena asked.

"When you stayed down there that extra minute after we'd all got out," Stefan said. He'd been wondering the same thing Damon had.

"I told her that maybe she should think about letting Anthony help her if Klaus and Elijah really plan on killing her," Elena said.

"Really?" Damon asked.

Elena shrugged. "Yeah."

"She doesn't want his help, Elena," Stefan said.

"You should be happy, both of you should," she said looking from Stefan to Damon.

"We should be happy that what's-his-face is here?" Damon said.

"Yeah, if anyone here should be happy he's around it should be you two."

Stefan looked confused.

"Neither of you want her to die- Anthony can help her. I have a deal with Elijah that keeps us and Bonnie and Care and Jer and Jenna and Alaric and Tyler and Matt safe. Katherine's not part of that deal. If Elijah wants her dead, he's gonna go after her," Elena said, sighing.

"You still believe Elijah's on our side?" Stefan said tiredly.

"Yes- for the millionth, Stefan," Elena said.

"He's not on our side," Stefan said tiredly.

"Babe, you're paranoid," Elena said. "Damon, tell him he's paranoid."

"I've already told him that plenty of times," Damon said. "Anyway, I'm getting out of here. I'm gonna go find Lockwood and make sure that bitch Jules isn't around. Though, I'd actually kind of _love _it if she was- I did promise to kill her if she ever came back here after all."

Damon didn't bother saying goodbye, he just dashed off. Elena stared after him for a minute. She looked confused, and for some reason she felt confused. She had got this feeling that she had just learned something- but she had no clue what it was.

Elena shook her thoughts off yet again. She hated, so badly hated, constantly feeling like there was something she was forgetting.

"We've got school in the morning. And as annoying as school is, I'll gladly head there because at least for a few hours, guaranteed, we can focus on something else besides Katherine and Anthony and Elijah," Elena said, agitated. "No more talking about them, or _anything_ for that matter," Elena said. "I'm sick of drama. I know it's not too late, but all I want to do right now is get into bed with you and sleep."

"And maybe stare at me a little," Stefan added, seeing that she wasn't exactly her happiest at the moment, trying to get her to smile.

Elena rolled her eyes, but he saw her lips turn upwards. A little smile.

"I don't stare," she said.

"That's right, you _gaze," _Stefan said with little laugh.

Elena's smile turned into an amused grin, remembering back to the morning that they had their little stare/gaze conversation, months ago.

"You stare too," she said.

"I totally do," he admittted with a grin.

Elena smiled again.

"Much better," Stefan said, happy to see the agitation gone from her face. He hated when she was upset. He just wanted her to be happy.

He held out his hand for her to take, and brought her closer to him when she did. She leaned her head against him for a minute before they continued walking to the Salvatore house.

"Love you," Stefan whispered.

"Love you too," Elena answered, giving his hand a little squeeze.


	35. Chapter 35

o-0-o-0-o Time for chapter 35- here it is. Thanks to those who have alerted and favourited, and thanks to David Fishwick, Anna-Lisa, Marie, Amanda Renrouge and celia for reviewing. Hope you enjoy this chapter. Leave me a review and let me know what you think o-0-o-0-o

Damon headed towards Bonnie's house, bored and annoyed. He hadn't seen Tyler, which was going to be his amusement for the night. Insulting the wolf would have been fun, but no such luck for Damon.

Damon turned his head when he heard Bonnie and Jeremy's voices.

"You sure you're fine?" Jeremy asked her, something sounding different in his voice.

Apparently neither of the two saw Damon.

"I'm fine Jer," Bonnie sighed, looking at him for a minute. Something was up with him. He hadn't said anything really, but she could tell he was upset about something.

"That Anthony freak attacked you-" he said angrily.

"I'm a witch Jeremy," Bonnie said, cutting him off. "I can heal myself from a bunch of stuff. I'm fine."

"So you healed yourself?" he asked.

"Well, no," Bonnie admitted.

"Then how are you okay?"

"I _could _have healed myself, but it would have taken a bit- so Damon helped," Bonnie said.

"What do you mean he helped?" Jeremy asked with a frown.

"He gave me some blood," Bonnie said.

"Oh," Jeremy said, not sounding thrilled. "Lovely, blood from Damon." he muttered sarcastically.

"Gee, that's nice," Bonnie said, starting to get annoyed. "You could sound a little happier that I'm okay."

"I _am _happy that you're okay. Did that Anthony guy leave town? Or is he still here?" Jeremy asked.

"He's sticking around the area- he's pretty set on looking out for Katherine, and Elena too if she needs anything from him."

"I want that guy gone," Jeremy said, "and I've never even met him."

"I think he's pretty harmless now. Though I'd like nothing more than to kick his ass, he just wanted to make sure Katherine was okay. He thought me and Stefan were keeping her from him," Bonnie told him.

"The guy attacked you and Stefan, and threw my sister down- how's he harmless?" Jeremy muttered.

"Jer, are you mad at me or something?" Bonnie asked as she stopped walking. "You've been sort of ass-like for the past forty-five minutes."

Damon smirked.

"I didn't know that you and Tyler were close," Jeremy said, out of nowhere.

"What?" Bonnie said.

"I wasn't eavesdropping," Jeremy started.

Bonnie rolled her eyes.

"I heard him say something like 'didn't I tell you that you'd find a good guy?'"

Bonnie interrupted. "And you have a problem with him calling you a good guy?" she asked, getting a bit fed up with Jeremy.

"No, but you said something about 'Bonnie and Tyler nostalgia'-"

"Seriously Jeremy?" Bonnie said. "Wow. Are you jealous?"

"Should I be?"

"We were friends. Why does that matter to you?"

"Were you ever _with_ him?" Jeremy asked.

"You're actually asking me that- are you insane? Dude, where the hell is this coming from?" Bonnie said, close to yelling, not answering the question.

"Were you?" he asked again.

Damon stood listening, annoyed that the kid was clearly pissing Bonnie off, but quite amused at the same time, thinking about the possibility that Bonnie might kick the littlest Gilbert's butt.

"First of all, if I ever was, it wouldn't be your business. Second of all you knew he came to see me about _Caroline,_remember? And third, what the hell was with the Damon comment a minute ago? And seriously, where the hell did the Tyler question come from?"

Damon cringed a bit, now it was getting into potential big fight territory.

"First- gee lovely answer. Thanks so much. Second, yeah I know. Third- I'm just saying, Damon's around a lot lately. And the Tyler question- well I'm just asking cuz you know we both had Vicki, I was just wondering if it would be the same with you," Jeremy said, wanting to make Bonnie angry.

Now the kid was really pissing Damon off. Why the hell was he talking to Bonnie like that? It wasn't cool.

Bonnie was furious. That comment was too much. She slapped him in the face- hard. "Get the hell out of my face Jeremy," Bonnie spat. "I mean it."

"Or what?" Jeremy said, taunting her.

Okay, that was enough. Damon moved out from his spot. The kid was being an asshole.

"Ignore him, Bonnie," John said, popping out of nowhere. "He's being a jerk because he's mad at me."

"Where'd you come from?" Jeremy asked.

"I've been looking for you," John said.

"Well, I don't want to see you. I'm not in the mood to talk to a liar," Jeremy said, not looking at his uncle.

"Let's go Jeremy," John said, taking hold of his nephew's shoulder. "And say you're sorry, for God's sake."

Jeremy shrugged his uncle's hand off.

"What's going on?" Damon asked, making himself visible.

"None of your business," Jeremy muttered.

"My boyfriend's just being an asshole. That's all," Bonnie said angrily.

"We're leaving now Jeremy. Let's go," John said again.

Jeremy rolled his eyes at his uncle.

"Yeah, by all means- _please _leave," Bonnie said with clenched fists.

Jeremy turned back to Bonnie and took a breath. "I'm sorry, okay. He's right, I'm not mad at you. I'm mad at him."

"That's nice," Bonnie said. "You may not be mad at me, but _I_ sure as hell am mad at you right now."

"I didn't mean it, Bonnie," Jeremy said again, fully realizing how stupid he had just been by trying to anger her and push her away. It was just plain stupid. "I'm sorry."

"You should really think before you say stupid shit," was Bonnie's response.

"I'm sorry," Jeremy repeated.

"Go with your uncle, Jeremy. _Maybe _ I'll see you at school tomorrow, but I'm not dealing with you anymore tonight. I'm going home, you should do the same," Bonnie said, beginning to walk away.

"Want some company walking back, Judgey?" Damon said, not sparing another look at Jeremy or John.

"Sure," Bonnie said, not looking back.

Jeremy turned to his uncle angrily and said, "So you were just going to lie to us til you died?"

Before Jeremy met up with Bonnie, he had overheard his uncle on the phone. He had been talking to Isobel. She must have known that he was sick. She probably asked him how the results turned out, or something like that because he had said 'The results weren't good, Isobel. I told Jeremy everything was fine, but I didn't get better. This thing's eventually going to take me out.'

"Yeah, that was the plan," John admitted. "I already told you, I wanted time with you guys. I didn't want you guys to give me time because you feel bad that I'm sick. I actually wanted us to have some real fun. Why is that so hard to understand?"

"I get it," Jeremy said taking a deep breath, "but that doesn't mean it's right."

"Maybe not."

"You're a giant asshole, but you're family and I don't really know how to deal with this. I don't wanna lose anyone else."

"You're scared of losing me, of losing anyone else- pissing off your girlfriend and pushing her away- that's not going to help you in the not losing anyone department."

Jeremy remained silent.

"I didn't want you or Elena to know. I didn't want either of you thinking about losing another family member. You two don't need to deal with anymore death or worry, and I don't want you feeling sorry for me," John said.

Jeremy didn't answer, but when John started to walk Jeremy followed.

After a couple minutes of walking, Jeremy finally said "Jenna's not gonna be home tonight. She's staying on campus to finish up a paper. You can stay at the house if you want."

"See, you're feeling sorry for me already. I didn't want that."

"Maybe I am," Jeremy admitted. "But you said you wanted to spend time with us- you should take the invitation when it's offered."

"Okay," John said. "I just have something to do first, then I'll meet you back at the house."

o-o-o-o-o-o

Katherine threw the last empty bottle of blood at the wall of the tomb. She had drunk it all. The amount that Stefan had brought her should have lasted at least another 2 days but she had just chugged it all down bottle after bottle.

Seeing Anton infuriated her. He made her remember things she wanted to forget. He showed up and messed her up. She wished she could get out of the tomb and just pound away at him and not stop.

She couldn't do that right now, obviously. The thing she wanted most, after getting to kick the crap out of Anton, was more blood and to forget.

She pounded her fist on the ground, waiting for Stefan to fall asleep. She hoped he would sleep soon. She'd ask him to bring her more blood and something that would get her really drunk. She didn't want to think anymore.

"Go to sleep babe. Go to sleep," Katherine mumbled. "Hurry up Stefan."

o-o-o-o-o-o

Almost immediately after cozying up to Stefan in his bed, Elena fell asleep. Stefan was tired too, but he made himself stay awake a little longer. He just wanted to look at her for a little while.

He loved this girl. There was no question about it- he was going to love her forever. She calmed him down. She made things better. She made _everything_ better.

He had been on edge tonight and he knew that she had been also, but they had calmed each other down.

He brushed her hair aside, checking for something he knew wasn't there. Her head was fine. There were no marks to show that she'd been thrown down by that Anthony idiot.

Stefan hated the guy. Plain and simple. He couldn't stand him. He would have liked to have been able to dish out a bunch of pain on the guy.

Stefan didn't care that Anthony clearly didn't see Elena when he threw her down- he could have ripped him apart just for that. But that wasn't the only thing Anthony had done- add on that the bastard attacked Bonnie and he infuriated Katherine to a point Stefan could never remember seeing.

Stefan hoped the guy got the hint and left town, but he knew that he didn't. Stefan, who did not like John Gilbert at all, would pick that man- someone who tried to kill him- over Anthony any day.

Stefan tried to shut down his mind and allow himself to sleep for a bit. He had a feeling the next day was going to end up being a headache.

o-o-o-o-o-o

"Were you there the whole time?" Bonnie asked Damon after a couple minutes, getting closer to her house.

"I got there when your little boyfriend got a little bit dirty- something about him and Tyler both having you or something. And then you smacked the crap out of him," Damon said, lying a bit.

He had a feeling Bonnie would bitch him out if he said he'd been listening in, and while Bonnie being annoyed was usually entertaining, he wasn't in the mood to piss her off right now.

"I can't believe he said that to me," Bonnie said, unlocking her door. "I don't care if he was pissed off about something or not."

"What the hell was that about anyway?" Damon asked, following Bonnie inside.

"I don't freakin' know. He heard like ten words between me and Tyler and invented some scenario in his head or something."

"So, now I'm curious- we're you ever with Lockwood?" Damon asked with a smirk.

"Oh, shut up," Bonnie said, heading to the kitchen to grab a bottle of water.

Bonnie heard Damon chuckling.

"What?" she asked from the kitchen.

"Your potential uncle-in-law is quickly approaching your front door," he said.

"Seriously?" Bonnie asked.

"Yup."

"Stay unseen," Bonnie said.

"Gee, thanks witchy," Damon said sarcastically.

John knocked on the door and Bonnie opened it reluctantly.

"Hi," he said.

"Hi," she said back

"Jeremy went home. I told him I'd be there soon."

"Okay," she said awkwardly.

"Please don't stay mad at him. His head was messed up."

"Over what?" Bonnie asked, annoyed that John was making excuses for Jeremy.

"You won't just leave it at that?"

""No," Bonnie said.

"Have you ever been scared about something?" John asked her.

"Sure," Bonnie said, wishing he'd get to the point.

"That thing you were afraid of happening, that thing you didn't want to happen- have you ever just ended up doing something to actually make the thing you were scared off happen?"

"I don't know what you're trying to say, John," Bonnie said tiredly.

"Jeremy's lost a lot of people in his life and now he's scared about losing someone else. He was angry and he took it out on you and he did something stupid that might have caused yet another person being lost to him. Do you get what I'm saying about causing what you're afraid of happening to happen?"

"Who's he scared of losing and why?" Bonnie asked.

"That's not important," John said. "Just don't hold tonight against him. He was just being stupid. The kid wasn't thinking straight."

"_You,"_Bonnie said, putting things together. "He's worried about you. He was mad at you. What's wrong with you?"

"Goodnight, Bonnie."

"There's obviously something wrong if he's scared about losing you- so what's wrong?" Bonnie said.

John knew he wasn't going to get away without saying anything, so he decided he'd tell a bit of the truth and a bit of lies.

"I've been sick for awhile- Jeremy found out about it tonight and I guess he stormed off and went to meet you. But I had an appointment with the doctor just after he found out that I had to go to. I've been undergoing treatment for awhile, and my appointment was actually about the treatment. The results came back- the treatment's been working. I'm going to be fine, but he didn't know that when he was with you."

"Oh," Bonnie said, sighing.

"Don't be too hard on him, okay?" John said, turning to leave.

"Thanks for letting me know," Bonnie said.

"Goodnight."

"Bye," Bonnie said, closing her door.

Bonnie grabbed her phone and dialled Jeremy.

"Hello-"

"Your uncle just came to my house and told me that you found out that he was sick tonight, and that's when you came to hang with me. You only knew at that point that there was something wrong, you didn't know that he was going to meet with the doctor. You didn't know that the doctor said he'd be okay... I get that you were worried. Even though you guys aren't close, I know you couldn't bear the thought of him dying. I get it. You should have just told me what was up. You should have told me you were worried instead of acting like an idiot. I adore you. I don't like being mad at you- so don't act like an idiot again, alright?" Bonnie said, not letting Jeremy get anything other than 'hello' out.

"Okay," Jeremy said, surprised that John went to see Bonnie to try to get her to not be angry with him. He wasn't so surprised that John lied about getting better, though. "I really am sorry. I shouldn't have said what I did. It was stupid. And even if you ever did hook-up with Tyler I know that you guys were never together, so you were right, that's not my business. A hook-up isn't a relationship. If it was something serious, you would have told me. I think I wanted to make you mad at me so that maybe I could focus on that instead of thinking about John."

"Go to sleep. Get your head clear. Be happy your uncle's okay. We'll start clear tomorrow, okay?" Bonnie said.

"Sounds good," Jeremy said.

"Okay, goodnight," Bonnie said, hanging up.

"Well, that was all quite interesting," Damon said, plopping himself down on Bonnie's couch. "You totally slept with wolf-boy, that's why your boyfriend's stupid-ass comment pissed you off so much," Damon said.

"You saying I wouldn't have a right to be pissed about that unless I did sleep with Tyler?" Bonnie asked.

"Not at all. I get why you'd be pissed, hell _I_ felt pissed. But there was just something extra in your pissed off-ness, that's all," Damon said, shrugging.

Bonnie looked at Damon for a minute and couldn't help but laugh. It was still funny for her sometimes to think that she'd become comfortable enough around him to even let this conversation get to this point.

"What?" Damon asked.

Bonnie just shook her head. "Time to get to work."

"Nope," Damon said. "It's not midnight yet Bon-Bon. Technically there's still half an hour to go."

"Oh come on," Bonnie said.

"Nope," Damon said again, grinning.

"Fine," Bonnie said, plopping down next to Damon on the couch.

"Random question for you, Judgey."

"What it is?" she asked.

"When I was doing my whole drunken rant to you- did I mention that I told the lovely Elena that I love her."

Bonnie's jaw dropped. "No, you left that part out. When did you tell her that?" Bonnie asked, shocked.

"It was the day we got her back from Rose and Trevor."

"She's never mentioned it," Bonnie said, moving herself so that she was facing Damon. "She would have mentioned it."

"She _would _have, but she doesn't remember."

Bonnie looked confused for a moment.

"She'd lost her necklace with the vervain in it, and I found it. I went to bring it back to her, but I didn't give it back until I told her what I needed to say. I said the words because I needed to, and then I compelled her to forget."

Bonnie slapped Damon upside the head.

"Yeah, yeah. I know it was wrong to mess with her memories. I know I didn't have the right, but I knew that I'd be opening up a big can of worms with what I said- I couldn't have that... Anyway, my question for you is- what do you think is gonna happen if she remembers? Is she gonna hate me?"

"You just said you compelled her, how's she gonna remember?"

"I did compel her, but she has it in her head that there's something that happened that she forgot, and not from when she fell down the stairs. I don't think it worked properly. What if she remembers? What am I supposed to do? " Damon asked.

"Deal with it," Bonnie said with a shrug. "There's nothing else you can do."

"Okay, Judgey. I'll be nice. I won't make you wait til midnight. Let's start up your craziness again," Damon said, not wanting to continue on the topic of Elena finding out anymore.

o-o-o-o-o

"_Finally," Katherine said, walking into Stefan's dream. "I've been waiting for you to fall asleep."_

"_Is everything okay, Katherine?" Stefan asked._

"_I need more blood. I have none left. And you need to bring me something that'll get me drunk- and quick," she said._

"_How are you out of blood?" Stefan asked her, moving closer. "Did you seriously drink it all?"_

"_I don't know if you noticed, but I kind of had a shitty day- yeah I drank it all. I know you just fell asleep and I know that you're probably lying there with Elena, but I need more blood and I need something- Stefan, my friggin head is pounding. I wanna_sleep, _but I can't cuz I can't friggin stop thinking. Bring me something- I need to get wasted and knock myself the hell out. That's the only way I'm gonna get any damn sleep, any peace tonight."_

_Stefan sighed._

"_Get out!"_

"_Katherine, who's there?" Stefan asked._

"_Did you really not understand me when I told you to get the hell out of here before, Anton?" Katherine spat._

_And then his dream with Katherine cut off._

Stefan was awake in a matter of seconds. He moved out of his bed as fast and quietly as possible. He placed a quick kiss on Elena's forehead, and headed to the basement. He grabbed some blood bags and a bottle of scotch, threw it all in a bag, and headed off to the tomb quickly.

o-o-o-o-o

"You need to tell me what happened, because I still don't understand. Whose child did I bury when I walked into your house and saw everyone dead?" Anton said, ignoring Katherine's obvious desire to never speak to him again.

"Not mine. Now get the hell out," Katherine said through gritted teeth.

He ignored her and took a seat in front of the invisible barrier that kept Katherine inside the tomb. He sat there in front of her, silent for a few minutes.

"I saw them all lying there. I thought that you were dead. I thought your body was in the next room. I couldn't bear to go check. I couldn't handle the idea of seeing you dead. And then I saw the child on the ground. A little boy, dead. I thought that that was our-"

"I had a girl," Katherine said, banging her head against the tomb wall. "I don't want you here. Just leave. I'm fucking tired. I don't want to see you. Just leave me alone."

"I can't. I still love you."

"Well, _I_ don't love you. I never did. I don't want or need your help. I don't want you in my life. I want you gone," Katherine yelled.

"I-"

"How many times do you have to be told to get lost?" Stefan asked, walking in.

He walked to where the guy he couldn't stand sat, and passed the bag to Katherine.

"Thanks," she said.

"You're welcome," he told her, and then he turned to Anton. "Now it's time for you to go."

"You really think you can make me leave?" Anton asked Stefan. "I'm older than you- stronger."

"You keep saying that you love her, but you're not listening to a damn thing she says. She doesn't want to see you. You piss her off. You make her mad. If you really love her, respect what she's asking of you- leave her alone," Stefan said angrily.

"I don't want to go," Anton said.

"Well, it's not about what _you _want. So it doesn't matter. Get up and go," Stefan said, looking Anton straight in the eye.

"Come on, try to make me," Anton said. He hated that everyone was trying to make him go. He just wanted to talk to Katerina.

"Anton, do you remember what I said to you before? I swear I wasn't kidding. You better get up and leave on your own because if he has to drag you out of here and you touch him, I promise you that I will kill when I get out here. Don't doubt that for a second. Not to mention Elena will hate your guts if you touch her boyfriend again. I know you've got a soft spot for her- you don't want to piss her off," Katherine said.

"Mr. Stefan, can't be here all the time- I'll come back tomorrow. I'm not trying to upset you, Katerina. I know that I wronged you in the past and I am _sorry, _but I just want you to talk to me. I just want to help,"Anton said, getting up.

"Don't come back here tomorrow Anton, nothing's gonna change," Katherine said, grabbing one of the blood bags.

"I'll be back," he said, exiting the tomb.

Katherine gulped down the contents of the blood bag and then threw it aside. She opened the bottle of scotch and started to chug that down also.

"Sorry for bugging you," Katherine said to Stefan.

Stefan shrugged.

"Is Bonnie any closer to getting me out of here?" Katherine asked, taking another drink.

"Yeah she said she is, I'm not exactly sure when she'll be ready, but she says it shouldn't be too much longer."

"Good, cuz I can't stand it in here anymore and now that he knows I'm in here, I hate it even more. I can't wait until I don't have to see his face anymore. When I get out of here, I'll _make_him leave me alone," she said, taking another drink again. "I'll kick his ass all over the place."

"Give me that," Stefan said. "I shouldn't have brought that for you."

"The goal is to get drunk Stefan- you definitely should have brought it," Katherine said with a laugh, but not a happy one.

Katherine was miserable. This had become pretty clear to Stefan and it wasn't fun to see.

"Getting drunk isn't going to change anything Katherine- maybe you'll forget whatever it is that's eating away at you for a little while, but it's all gonna be there again when the alcohol wears off," he said, holding out his hand.

"I'm tired, Stefan. I want to sleep. I want to stop thinking for 5 freakin' minutes."

"Getting drunk isn't going to guarantee any of that. Just give me the bottle back."

"I'll give the bottle back if you stay," Katherine said, sure that that would end the subject and leave her to get drunk in peace.

"Fine," Stefan said, not wanting her to drown her sorrows. It was weird seeing her like this. "I'll stay," he said, sitting down in the spot where Anton had been only a moment earlier.

"Oh," Katherine said, surprised.

She hadn't expected that.

"Hand it over," Stefan told her.

"Okay," Katherine said quietly, passing the bottle back to Stefan.

"Go close your eyes now. Trust me, you will fall asleep eventually," Stefan said.

"Soon enough the time will come when Elijah and Klaus get here and then we'll take care of all that and the problems will be gone. You won't need to deal with me too much longer," Katherine said, sitting back down again.

"Close your eyes, Katherine. No more talking tonight," Stefan said, leaning his head back against the wall.

Katherine saw his eyes close and then she did the same.

o-o-o-o-o-o

"_Cute pjs," Damon said, seemingly appearing out of nowhere._

"_I'm tired Damon," Elena said awkwardly._

"_I brought you this," Damon said, holding up her necklace._

"_I thought that was gone," Elena said, surprised. "Thank you."_

_Damon pulled the necklace back a bit before she could take it back._

"_Please give it back," Elena told him._

"_I just have to say something."_

"_Why do you have to say it with my necklace?" Elena asked nervously._

"_Because what I'm about to say is probably the most selfish thing I've ever said in my life."_

"_Damon, don't go there," Elena said, nervous about where the conversation was heading._

"_I just have to say it once. You just need to hear it... I love you, Elena. And it's because I love you that- I can't be selfish with you- why you can't know this. I don't deserve you, but my brother does," he said quietly, leaning in to kiss her forehead._

"_God, I wish you didn't have to forget this," he said, hand her on face. "But you do," he said, looking her in the eye._

_Damon's eyes were wet, a tear fell._

_Elena blinked and then Damon was gone._

Elena shot up in Stefan's bed.

"What the hell was that?" Elena wondered aloud.


	36. Chapter 36

o-0-o-0-o Thanks to everyone who alerted and favourite the story. And thanks a lot to David Fishwick, laugh4life, Raya, Hooked-On-TVD, Anna-Lisa and Marie for reviewing. Sorry this chapter is a short one and that it took me awhile to get out but I had a big essay due this week. This chapter isn't super long, but I'll get the next chapter out sooner than I had planned to make up for it. I really hope you'll all enjoy this chapter. Leave me a review and let me know what you think o-0-o-0-o

Caroline couldn't sleep and she hated herself for the reason why. She couldn't stop thinking about Tyler. His presence in Mystic Falls again just threw everything off balance. It shocked her and it stirred up old feelings she thought were gone. It stirred up old feelings that she never actually resolved. She loved Matt, she knew this, but seeing Tyler again threw her off completely. It made her revisit the feelings that she never fully figured out. It wasn't fair that he came to town now, when she was happy with Matt. It wasn't fair that he came back and made her remember that she might have been falling for him before the incident with Jules and the other wolf torturing her. It wasn't fair that he made her remember how much he had started to mean to her before all that crap went down.

Matt was a good guy, a sweet guy who loved her. He didn't deserve to have his girlfriend thinking about some other guy.

Caroline hoped that she could stop thinking and just fall asleep and have some sort of stupid dream that had nothing to do with her life.

Just as she tried to close her eyes again, she heard a knock at her door. She sighed as she got out of her bed. She grabbed a robe and headed downstairs to see who it was.

She closed her eyes for a second and took a deep breath when she saw who it was. Tyler was at her doorstep.

_Good luck getting him out of your head now._

She opened the door, not really knowing what to expect. She didn't have a good feeling about this with the way she was feeling right now. With her in her weird place concerning feelings for Tyler, it was not a good idea for him to be here.

"Hey Caroline," Tyler said, hands in his pockets.

"Hi," she answered quietly, examining his face. He looked sad and confused, and he looked like he really needed to say something.

"Were you sleeping?" he asked her.

"Not yet," she said.

Part of her wanted him to go away because having him here was not helping with the whole issue of trying to get him out of her head. But the other part saw him looking sad and confused and she couldn't stand it. She couldn't tell him to go away.

"Wanna come in?" she asked.

Tyler nodded.

Caroline had a feeling she was going to regret this.

o-o-o-o-o-o-

"So, I _still _don't believe you, Judgey," Damon said, sitting on Bonnie's couch, watching her chant, feeling the floor shake.

She obviously wasn't going to answer him because she was using her magic, but he could tell she heard him because she just smirked.

"There's something specific you wanna do, and I wanna know what it is," he said, continuing.

Bonnie just shook her head at him.

He knew she wasn't gonna tell him anything, but it was always fun to press.

"You were already knocked out after this long the first time," Damon said. "You owe me for helping you get all strong, Bon-Bon. I'm currently thinking of how I'm going to make you repay me," Damon grinned.

Bonnie opened her eyes and turned her head towards him long enough to roll her eyes, and Damon couldn't help but laugh as he sat back and continued to wonder what Bonnie was really up to..

o-o-o-o-o-o-o-

Elena took some deep breaths and rubbed her head.

_What kind of dream was that?_

Elena got out of Stefan's bed and started to pace.

_That wasn't a dream and you know it. That just filled in one of the blanks in your head. _

Elena went back to Stefan's bed and sat on the edge.

_Damon's in love with me? He's actually in love with me? _

Elena got up again and resumed pacing. She was shocked, but she wasn't sure if she should be. Bonnie, Caroline, Isobel and Jeremy had all said it at least once. They had all said at one point or another that Damon loved her.

Sure, at one point, she knew that Damon had a thing for her, but she had never believed that he was actually in love with her, had she?

She played back what she saw in her head, played back his words, and it tugged at her heart- that picture of him in her head now: vulnerable, sad, troubled.

The part of her that resented him compelling her, messing with her head- couldn't help but feel maybe the tiniest amount of respect and appreciation for him too. He didn't want to stir things up. He hadn't wanted to cause trouble, he only wanted to let the words out.

_What am I supposed to do about this? I should just pretend like I never remembered that, right? It's not like bringing it up is going to result in anything good. Stefan will be just thrilled if he finds out that Damon told me he loved me, and it'll probably just make Damon uncomfortable if I confront him. Hell, it's gonna make me uncomfortable if I confront him. Just forget about it... Yeah, just forget it. Try to forget about it._

Elena walked to the bathroom and splashed some water on her face. When she walked back into the room, she sort of did a double take.

Where was Stefan?

Elena closed her eyes and took a deep breath. She yelled out his name once, already having the feeling that he was gone.

There was no answer. She put her day clothes back on and headed out of the Salvatore house.

Her destination was the tomb. She was pretty sure that's where Stefan was, and Elena did not want him there with her, not at all.


	37. Chapter 37

o-0-o-0-o Thanks to the people who have favourited and put the story on alert. And thanks to David Fishwick, celia, and Marie for reviewing last chapter. Here's the new one. Hope you'll enjoy it. Leave me a review and let me know what you think o-0-o-0-o

"You didn't have to go see Bonnie for me," Jeremy said, coming down the stairs.

He headed straight for his bed after he had talked to Bonnie, and he had fallen asleep before John got back. Jeremy had slept for a couple hours, but he'd just woken up feeling hungry so he came to the kitchen to grab a snack.

John was sitting at the table in the kitchen absorbed in his thoughts, his head in his hands. He hadn't heard Jeremy.

Jeremy went up to him and put his hand on his shoulder. "Earth to John," he said.

John's head shot up immediately.

"It's just me," Jeremy said, heading towards the fridge.

"I didn't hear you come down," John said.

"I figured,' Jeremy said, grabbing some dip from the fridge and a bag of chips from the cupboard.

"If you said something, I didn't hear you before," John said, rubbing his head.

"I said that you didn't have to go see Bonnie for me."

"She was pretty pissed at you. I don't think she would have been in the mood to talk to you if I hadn't gone to see her," John said as Jeremy sat down across from him at the table.

"Thanks," Jeremy said.

"No problem," John said, grabbing a chip from the bag.

"You lied, though," Jeremy said.

"I had no intention of saying anything, but your girlfriend wasn't easy to convince so I had to use a bit of honesty- but of course I had to lie. You know that she'd talk to Elena about this, and I can't have Elena knowing that I'm sick. So because I knew she'd go tell Elena, I had to lie."

"You're still going to have to talk to Elena, you know," Jeremy said.

"I'm not telling her I'm sick, and neither are you, and that's final," John said seriously.

"First of all, you _will _tell her, and if you don't I will, but I'll give you some time to figure things out with that- but I wasn't talking about that right now. I mean you're right, Bonnie's gonna talk to Elena about what you said, so you're going to have to at least tell Elena your lie for now. You're going to have to tell her what you told Bonnie."

"I need some air," John said. "Get back to sleep kid, you've got school in the morning."

John got up, grabbed a sweater and walked out the door.

o-o-o-o-o-

Stefan was a sweet guy. The sweetest. Too sweet for Elena's liking right now. She got it, she did. Anthony had really pissed off Katherine, and even Elena had found it in herself to feel bad for Katherine. Some serious things obviously went down between the two of them. She got that Katherine was pissed and freaked out at seeing Anthony again, and it was nice that Stefan was checking on her and bringing her blood and whatnot, but it was really getting to Elena.

The possessive part of her just didn't want her boyfriend anywhere near Katherine for a variety of reasons. Number one, she was a manipulator and a trouble-maker, and she would hurt people for fun. Number two, she was his ex. There was no way around that for Elena. Stefan might not love her, but it was clear as day that Katherine still had a thing for him, which Elena understood because Stefan was wonderful. Exes, with one still wanting the other- Elena just didn't like it. Yeah, she was jealous. She tried not to be, but she was.

So what was she going to do? Was she just going to barge into the tomb and demand that Stefan come back with her? She'd look like a jealous idiot. She _was _jealous, but she couldn't give Katherine the satisfaction of seeing that.

_Uggggh! So I shouldn't go, then? _

Elena sighed and decided to just take a seat on the curb for a minute.

"You shouldn't be out here at this time alone, Elena."

Elena didn't answer, she just rolled her eyes. It was Anthony.

"Let me walk you back to where you're supposed to be," he said.

"Go away," Elena said, standing up.

"I just want to-"

"You attacked my best friend and my boyfriend- I don't care what you want," Elena said angrily.

_Not to mention you being around is also making Stefan feel bad for Katherine, making him feel sorry for her, making him spend more time with her. _

Elena had plenty of reasons to want this guy to get out of her face.

"Your boyfriend is with Katerina right now, just in case you wanted to know."

"I know where my boyfriend is. Don't try to be a trouble-maker," Elena mumbled.

"I don't like your boyfriend," Anton said.

"Yeah, he doesn't like you either," Elena answered, starting to walk again.

Anthony followed.

"Go away," Elena said, getting more annoyed by the second.

"I'm not leaving you alone out here at this hour," Anthony said, ignoring her request. "It must be weird for you, looking exactly like Katerina. How long ago was it that she and your boyfriend were together? Were they together for long?" he asked.

"Are you seriously asking me about my boyfriend and another woman right now?" Elena said, spinning around to face Anthony. "You're an asshole... You supposedly care about me- here's some advice for you. If you're trying to get me to not hate you as much as Katherine already does, pissing me off even more than I already am at you isn't the greatest way to make that happen," Elena said angrily.

"Sorry," Anthony mumbled.

"Just go away, please," Elena said. "I don't need an escort, and I don't want your company," Elena said, trying to hurry away.

Anthony reached out and grabbed her arm. "Don't be stubborn," he said.

"Get your hands off me," Elena hissed.

Before Elena knew what was going on, Anthony was pushed down to the ground.

Elena had to close her eyes and reopen them a couple times, to make sure she was actually seeing who she thought she was seeing.

It was Isobel.

Elena was not at all thrilled to see her biological mother, but she wouldn't mind watching her and Anthony beat each other up a bit. She quickly shook that thought off. The last thing anyone needed right now was for someone to by chance walk by and witness a fight between two vampires. And they'd know they were vampires because they had their vamp faces on.

"Stop it," Elena said, trying to get in between them as Anthony quickly got back up and lunged at Isobel.

Anthony practically threw himself backwards when Elena positioned herself between himself and Isobel.

He didn't want to hurt her.

"What the hell, Elena?" Isobel said.

Elena couldn't help but wonder why Isobel was in town.

"Don't make a freakin' scene. We're in Mystic Falls, remember? We have a council of vampire hunters. I don't need someone to walk by and see two vampires around me. I don't want the trouble," Elena whispered. "And there was no need for you to jump in. I'm fine. The guy's a jerk, but he's not gonna hurt me. You don't have to pretend that you give a crap about me, Isobel."

Someone grabbed Elena's arm and pulled her back. "What the hell is going on here?"

Now John was here.

_How lovely. Three of some of my least favourite people, all together._

Elena shrugged him off.

"All we need is Katherine now," Elena mumbled.

John, Isobel and Anthony all turned towards Elena.

"What about Katherine?" Isobel said.

"Anthony here, or Anton, as he was called back in Bulgaria, is the guy who knocked Katherine up. Katherine and him, and then you and John- the reasons for my existence- all in Mystic Falls at the same time. How fun," Elena said sarcastically.

Isobel just stared at Elena.

"Isobel, meet your great-great-great-great-great whatever the hell grandfather. You've got his eyes," Elena muttered.

"Can I join the party?" someone said, coming up next to Elena.

Elena smiled. Finally, someone she actually liked. Damon.

He had just finished up with Bonnie, and was heading back home.

"It's not a fun party. Since I'm your friend, I suggest you just leave with me instead," Elena said with a smile.

"Friend, huh?" Isobel said, and Elena knew without even looking at her that she had a smirk on her face.

"Isobel- how lovely to see you again," Damon said. "Not."

Elena started to walk away from her parents and ancestor, cringing a bit at Isobel's comment.

She just made Elena remember Damon's confession in her dream/memory and now Damon was right next to her.

She didn't know what to do. She thought she had decided to just keep her mouth shut, but part of her was feeling like she needed to say something.

"What's going on in that head of yours?" Damon asked, giving her a nudge. "Did the family reunion give you a headache?"

"It definitely did," she said. _But that's not what's going on in my head right now._

"I'm still trying to figure out how the hell you come from Isobel and John and Katherine and that idiot," Damon said, aiming for a smile out of Elena.

Elena chuckled a bit.

"What are you doing roaming around out here anyway? Where's Stefan?" Damon asked.

"I had a dream that really threw me off, and I woke up and Stefan wasn't there. I figured he was with Katherine and I was gonna go check, but then I decided against it, figuring I'd look like I was jealous," Elena said.

"My idiot little brother has a big heart. He can forgive a lot of things. He just feels bad for her, you know. That's all," Damon said

"I hope so," she mumbled.

"Of course that's what it is," Damon said. "Come on, Elena vs. Katherine. We both know who wins that one- you. Hands down, honey."

Elena bit her lip.

"That's sweet of you to say," she managed to get out.

"I only speak the truth," he said, giving her shoulder a little squeeze.

"Elena," John called out, trying to catch up.

Elena sighed.

"Where am I taking you?" Damon asked.

"I should just go home," Elena said. "John's already stalking me, you don't need him bugging you too."

"You sure?" Damon asked.

"Yeah," Elena said tiredly, as John appeared next to them.

"Where are you going? You better not be going with him," John said.

"First of all, I'll go where and with whoever I want. Second, relax, I'm going home," Elena said, rolling her eyes.

To piss John off, Damon placed a kiss on Elena's forehead. "Goodnight Elena," he said.

Elena knew Damon did that to annoy John, but it just made her replay Damon telling her that he loved her all over again in her head.

"Goodnight," she said quietly.

_He really does love me, doesn't he? What am I gonna do? Am I actually going to be able to act like I never remembered what he said?_

"I know it's late, Elena, but there's something I need to talk to you about," John said, bringing her out of her thoughts. "Could you give me a few minutes before you head to bed? I don't want you hearing it from someone else."

"Okay," Elena said, forgetting about Damon's confession for a moment. She wasn't in the mood to talk to John, but he sounded pretty serious. It sounded like it was important.

o-o-o-o-o-o-

Matt couldn't sleep, so he decided to get a bit of air, hoping somehow that would help him fall asleep when he got back home.

He was walking by Caroline's house and noticed that the lights were on, and decided he'd go see her for a little bit.

Matt was about to knock on the door, but he stopped when he noticed that Tyler was there with Caroline.

_Why is he visiting her at this hour?_

Matt pulled out his phone and sent Caroline a text. He knew he was probably acting like an idiot, being paranoid, but he didn't like that Tyler was with Caroline right now. Not at this time, not with knowing that Tyler used to have feelings for Caroline, not with the feeling that Caroline might have felt something back for Tyler before.

'You still up? I can't fall asleep' he wrote.

About a minute later Caroline responded, 'I'm in bed, about to fall asleep finally, I think. Try counting sheep, babe. I know it sounds stupid but it actually worked for me before. Good luck. I'll see you at school. Xoxo'

_She just flat-out lied. She's sitting in her living room with Tyler. I guess I'm not paranoid after all._

Matt decided against knocking on her door to confront her, and just headed back home, thinking the worst, but trying not to.

He couldn't help but wonder if Tyler was planning on taking his girl from him, and he couldn't help but wonder if his girl would want to be taken by Tyler.

There was no way Matt was going to get any sleep tonight.


	38. Chapter 38

o-0-o-0-o Chapter 38 is here. Thanks to those who alerted or favourited and thanks to David Fishwick, Marie, Anna-Lisa, laugh4life and Raya for reviewing. For those wondering about the number of chapters left I'm still not sure, but I've done some more thinking and planning with the story so I can tell you now for sure I've got AT LEAST 7 more chapters coming possibly a lot more. When the story does for sure get close to the end, you can be sure that I'll give you at least 2 or 3 chapters warning... I'm not matching up my story with the show at this point, but there are some lines from episode 2x20 that I really love, that I had to put in this chapter. Hope everyone likes the chapter. Leave me a review and let me know what you think. Reviews give me motivation to write faster and are the only way I know if the story is being enjoyed. o-0-o-0-o

"Is everything alright, Tyler?" Caroline asked, turning to face him as they sat on the couch. "I really didn't think I'd be seeing you again."

"I hadn't planned on coming here before, but I have things I need to say. It might be better if I just keep my mouth shut- it's _probably_ better, but I don't care- there are things that just need to be said."

"Ty, if you think you shouldn't be saying what you're gonna say, maybe it's best to just keep it to yourself," Caroline said, almost choking on the words. She had a feeling that something big was gonna come, and she was nervous.

"You helped me and you stuck by me like no one ever has. No one will ever be able to do more for me than you did. I don't think I can ever thank you enough. You were my rock. You made me feel okay- you made me feel good."

"Tyler, don't-" Caroline choked out. Her eyes were wet. She knew where this conversation was going, and she needed it to stop because something might happen that she'd end up regretting.

"I never expected to get so close to you. I never expected that you'd pretty much become everything-"

"Tyler, stop it," Caroline said, cutting him off. She couldn't help it. The water that had pooled in her eyes was rolling down her face. She was crying and she couldn't stop herself. She couldn't let him say anything else- she was going to come undone.

He had quite the effect on her.

"No, Care. You need to know this. You need to hear this. You pretty much became everything that mattered to me."

She wasn't able to keep her mouth shut, or the thought from entering her head. "Then why did you leave me?" she said, barely above a whisper, the words catching in her throat.

Tyler looked at her, wanting to reach out and touch her. He ignored that desire, closed his eyes for a second, and then took a deep breath instead. "I knew you hated me."

"I wanted to kick your ass the day I called and bitched you out. If there was a day or two that I would have hated you, it would have been the night they tortured me, and the next day when I talked to you, but I didn't even hate you then, because later that day I was telling Damon not to kill you if you ever came back here... I was hurt, you know? You turned your back on me when I needed you. But I could never _hate _you, Tyler," Caroline said, wiping her eyes.

Tyler rubbed his head and just nodded, feeling a wave of relief run through his body.

"I fell for you, you know?" Tyler said.

"_Stop _it. I'm with Matt- your best friend, in case you forgot," Caroline said, taking a deep, yet technically unnecessary breath.

"He's my buddy, but that doesn't mean that what I said isn't true."

"No, it means that you shouldn't have said that," Caroline said, getting up, running her hand through her hair. "No more, okay?" she said, hoping that he would keep his mouth shut, because if he didn't, she was sure she was going to say something else she'd regret saying, or even thinking later on.

"I wanted you to know," he said.

"Why?" she yelled. "Why the hell say this to me if you're just gonna leave again in a day or two? Why tell me this and leave me feeling like shit and all confused where Matt is concerned?"

Tyler wasn't sure what to say.

"It's not fair, Tyler," she said quietly. "It's not fair to me, and it's really not fair to Matt."

"I thought that I could just see you when I saw you before- I thought I could apologize and then leave you in peace, but after seeing you again... I _don't _want to make you feel bad and I don't wanna do any wrong to Matt, but I just can't let this go right now," he said. "And I'm not exactly sure if I'm leaving now after all," he added.

"You're staying?" Caroline asked quietly.

"I went back to see my mom after I saw Matt. She really wants me to stay, and I feel bad because I basically left her with no one when I headed out of town- and then there's you. I don't wanna leave again. I know I told you that I was gonna go, but I don't think I can anymore."

"What do you want from me, Tyler?" Caroline asked, rubbing her temples.

"When you called me that day to give me hell, you said that I was supposed to be your friend, and that we could have been more than that. You really meant that, didn't you?" he asked, trying to get her to look at him.

"It doesn't matter if I did or not- that was then, this is now. I'm with Matt. He loves me. He's been good to me. We shouldn't be having this conversation, Ty."

"If you say yes, it doesn't mean you don't love Matt, you guys weren't even really together when everything went down. And if you say yes, I'm not going to take it and assume you still mean yes right now."

"I'm tired, Tyler," Caroline said, sighing.

"Please," he said, grabbing her hand.

_Oh man! Why can't he let this go? I don't want to do this right now. I don't want to dig that up. I need to think of Matt. Tyler can't come and mess everything up in my head._

"Please just tell me. I promise I'll go home- just tell me," Tyler pleaded.

"Why, Tyler?" Caroline asked. "It's not going to change anything," she sighed, beginning to walk up the stairs to her room.

"I just need to know. Please," he said quietly.

Caroline paused on the stairs and looked down at him. She was quiet for nearly a minute before finally giving in and saying "yes, I really did mean it."

"Okay," Tyler said, nodding his head. "I messed everything up, all because I took practically a stranger's story as true and never let you explain anything from your side. It's my loss," Tyler said with a sad smile. "Goodnight Caroline," he said, heading out the door.

_Damn! Why can he get to me like this? Why can he do this to my feelings? Why can he mess up my head up so bad?_

"Tyler," Caroline called out, running back down the stairs and out the door, suddenly scared that he would still leave town again.

He'd crept back into her life again, and now, as much as she needed him to get out of her house for right now, she couldn't stand the thought that he could leave Mystic Falls again, especially without her knowing.

"Yeah?" he said, turning around.

"If you don't end up staying in town, you can't just leave."

"You want a goodbye?" he asked her.

"If you're gonna go, you have to come see me and say goodbye," she said, nodding her head, hoping she wouldn't cry again.

"And if I stay?" he asked.

"We can hang. We can be friends. If you're here, I don't want you to avoid me. I don't want things to be weird. I don't wanna see you and not talk to you. I didn't let you say it when we were at the ice cream place, but you were gonna say that you missed me. Well, I missed you too" Caroline said quietly.

"Me coming back here kinda messed you up, huh?"

"Yeah," Caroline admitted, with a sigh.

"Why?" someone asked.

It was Matt.

He had started to walk back home before, and then changed his mind again, and headed back to Caroline's. He had been sitting on the curb, waiting for Tyler or Caroline, or both to come out and confront them.

Caroline froze in her spot. _Shit! This is not good._

Tyler could tell that Caroline was nervous as hell right now. Tyler spoke up quickly to spare Caroline having to say anything. And Tyler knew that whatever she was going to say was somehow going to come out sounding like she'd done something wrong, and he didn't want Matt getting mad at her, especially when she did nothing wrong.

"You remember when I called you when I left town and I told you that I had really messed up- that I really let her down," Tyler said to Matt.

Matt nodded.

"I came here to talk to her about it. I needed to apologize some more. I don't feel like I really got it across earlier today. It's not some light, breezy topic, Matt. It would mess anyone up," Tyler said, partially making this story up.

"I told you I was in bed cuz me and him were kind of in the middle of a really serious conversation, and I couldn't take the chance that it would get interrupted," Caroline added, trying to make something up for why she had texted him that she was in her bed in case he was going to bring that up. "We were talking about a really bad situation."

"What was it that happened?" Matt asked. "I've been wondering that for awhile, and I've never really got an answer," he said, feeling calmer.

Caroline didn't want to answer for three reasons. One was that she didn't want to re-run what had happened in her head. The other reason was because she didn't want Matt to be furious with Tyler, and she knew he would be if he found out, and the third reason was that she didn't want anything to slip about Tyler and werewolves.

"It doesn't matter, Matt. It's in the past. I'd like to keep it there. I don't really want to talk about it. I forgave him, that's all you really need to know," she said.

Matt looked like he didn't like that answer very much.

_She's trying to defend me after I just stood there like an idiot while they hurt her. She doesn't want him to get mad at me. And now he's getting mad at her. That's not right._

"Remember when I told you that she really helped me, that she was really there for me?" Tyler said.

"Yeah," Matt said.

"I'm not exactly normal-" Tyler started to explain.

"Oh my God, get inside, both of you," Caroline hissed. "We're not gonna talk about this outside in _Mystic Falls_."

Matt and Tyler both followed Caroline back inside.

Caroline closed and locked the door behind them.

"What do you mean you're not exactly normal?" Matt asked.

"I'm a werewolf," Tyler said awkwardly.

The colour drained out of Matt's face.

o-o-o-o-o-o-

Stefan pulled out his phone and began to text Elena. He didn't want her to worry when she woke up and he wasn't there. He felt like crap for leaving her there alone. He hadn't planned on coming and _staying_ here at the tomb, but he hadn't ever really seen Katherine so messed up as she had been tonight. It was weird and he didn't like seeing it.

And while he didn't _really_ doubt that Katherine was going to help protect Elena when Bonnie got her out of the tomb by bringing down the seal, he needed to make sure that that wasn't going to change. Damon and Elena had really made her angry earlier, though nowhere near as angry as Anthony had, but he needed Katherine to know that he appreciated that she was going to help.

Stefan didn't think that it was a good idea to leave Katherine alone tonight because a part of him _was _the tiniest bit afraid that she might decide not to help Elena anymore, and because it wasn't right seeing her so upset and worked up, even after everything that she'd done.

'Sorry that I head to run out tonight, but something came up. I hope you sleep right through getting this text because I know you're tired- but I just wanted to let you know everything's fine, I just had something I needed to do. I'll be back in the morning before we have to get to school. Love you,' Stefan wrote and then pushed send.

"Texting Elena?" Katherine asked, opening in her eyes.

"I thought you fell asleep," Stefan said.

"Not yet," she said. "But surprisingly, I think I actually might be able to in a bit."

"That's good," Stefan said. "You need to relax your brain."

"No kidding," she responded, sighing. "I'm not sure if you're worried about me or if you're worried that I'm going to go back on my word. You don't have to stay, Stefan. You can go if you want. I told you that I would help you protect Elena. I'm not going to go back on my word. You don't have to stay cuz you're worried that I'm gonna snap or something."

_I really want to go back to Elena and just wrap my arms around her and fall asleep, but it doesn't feel right to just leave you here right now._

"Is me sitting here helping you clear your head? Am I making it easier for you to fall asleep?" Stefan asked, leaning his head back against the wall.

"Yeah," she answered.

"Then just say thank you, and close your eyes. No more talking. You're not the only one with a giant headache after this lovely day," he told her.

Katherine laughed a bit before saying "Thank you, Stefan."

"Goodnight Katherine."

"Sweet dreams," she said.

_I'd like some sweet dreams. That would be pretty nice since my girlfriend is possibly going to kill me when morning comes for not being there tonight. _

o-o-o-o-o-o-

"Why is Isobel here?" Elena asked John. Elena wasn't very fond of either of her biological parents, but if she had to pick one over the other, her preference was definitely John over Isobel.

"I didn't know she was coming, Elena, but it might have something to do with what I'm going to tell you."

"Tell me what's going on," Elena said.

"I've been sick for awhile now and I've recently undergone some treatment and different procedures in hopes of getting rid of what I've got," John said, sitting down at the table at the same time as Elena.

Elena's face fell. She didn't like what she was hearing. "What?" she asked. "What kind of sick?"

"Not the flu kind," John said, attempting some humour.

Elena remained silent for a moment, then she got up and walked out of the kitchen. She headed

to the bathroom and had to splash some water on her face to make sure she was really awake, to make sure John really just said what he said.

Elena went from being mostly annoyed about having to talk to John to being worried sick about him. She splashed water on her face a good three times. She was awake. He really did just say that.

Elena felt a little bit sick, as she walked back into the kitchen, sitting back down at the table.

"Do you have any news on if your treatments have worked?" Elena asked, taking a breath.

_There's no way I can ever tell her that I'm still sick. Just look at her right now._

"I got the results tonight," he said.

"And?"

"I'm okay," John said.

Elena exhaled and let her head fall backwards. "That's good," she said.

"Nice to know you don't want me to die," John said with a little smile.

Elena just shook her head and she actually laughed a bit.

"Does Jeremy know?" Elena asked.

"He found out tonight, but he got a bit mixed up and then he acted like an idiot towards Bonnie so I had to go smooth things out for him."

"What are you talking about?" Elena asked.

"I had no plans on telling you or your brother about any of this, but I was talking to Isobel because she knew I was sick and Jeremy overheard me telling her. I guess he got worried and pissed and then he was hanging out with Bonnie, and because he was all messed up about me, he said some really stupid crap to her- she got pissed and left. He didn't know that I was fine. I went to Bonnie to smooth things over for Jeremy, explaining that he was only acting stupid because he was worried about me," John said, telling the edited, slightly false version of the story.

"So the only reason you're telling me is because Jeremy found out and then because you had to spill the beans so that Bonnie would forgive Jeremy. You knew if you told Bonnie, I'd know come morning," Elena said, rolling her eyes.

"Pretty much. Like I said, I didn't have any plans on saying anything to anyone. I didn't want anyone knowing and acting weird around me," John told her.

"Me and Jeremy thought that something was up with you, and we were right."

"What do you mean?" John asked.

"It was weird that you came around, wanting to do the whole bonding thing, but it makes sense that you'd want to try to make things better and get closer to us if you thought you might be dying," Elena said, rubbing her eyes, to keep them from closing.

"You still gonna give me a chance, even though I'm probably not going to kick the bucket in the near future?" John asked.

Elena covered up a yawn and rubbed at her eyes again. She was tired. The day had been insane. It was a confusing night. A whole lot of emotions were in the air tonight.

She looked at John for a moment before saying "Yeah, but you'd better be nice to the people I care about. No causing trouble."

"I think I can do that," John told her.

"Alright, well, goodnight then," Elena said, walking towards the stairs.

"Jeremy said I could stay, but is it okay with you?" John asked.

"Yeah, it's fine if Jenna's not here," Elena said. "But don't you dare let Isobel in this house. And frankly, you need to tell her to get out of town or at least tell her to stay away from here. I'm not going to have her cause trouble for Ric and Jenna. Jenna thinks she's dead."

"Isobel doesn't listen to anyone, Elena," John said with a sigh. "I can't promise you anything except that I won't invite her in."

"Fair enough," Elena said, climbing the stairs to her room, really hoping that she'd be able to get back to sleep.

o-o-o-o-o-o

Bonnie was not tired at all, she was fully energized. She felt strong, and she wanted to use her power. It was earlier than she had anticipated being able to pull it off, but she felt like she'd be able, with Stefan's help to get started on gathering some of the white-ash wood tonight.

She hoped that he was still awake because she really wanted to get to work.

Bonnie pulled out her phone and sent Stefan a text saying. 'If you're still awake, call me.'

Bonnie sat down on the couch and waited.

o-o-o-o-o-

"Katherine?" Stefan whispered.

No answer. She'd finally fallen asleep. Good.

Stefan dialled Bonnie's number as he got up and headed out of the tomb.

"Hey Bonnie, is everything okay?" he asked.

"I can't sleep. I'm full of energy and I'm feeling strong Stefan. Wanna take a walk with me and look at some trees?" she asked, knowing that he'd understand what she meant.

"If you're sure you're up for it, then absolutely," Stefan said, grinning.

"Okay, meet me at my place. I'll be waiting," she said, hanging up.


	39. Chapter 39

o-0-o-0-o Thanks to David Fishwick, laugh4life, Akasha Hallows25, Raya and Hooked-On-TVD for reviewing last chapter. Hope everyone enjoys this new chapter. Leave me a review and let me know what you think. Reviews let me know if you guys are enjoying the story o-0-o-0-o

Bonnie was waiting at her door for Stefan. "Come in," she said.

Stefan went inside and Bonnie quickly shut the door.

"Okay, so I'm feeling strong and I can't sleep. I wanna start gathering some of that wood," Bonnie said.

"We're going to have to be sneaky. We don't want to take any chances of getting seen," Stefan told her.

"I've thought about all of that. I'm thinking that the council might have cameras around the places where they have the trees, so what I'm gonna do is make you and me invisible-"

"You can do that?" Stefan asked, impressed.

"It's one of the things I've been working up to, trying to get stronger," Bonnie said. "I'm feeling good and full of energy, but I'm not stupid enough to think that I'll be able to pull it off for long. I think I can manage to keep up the illusion for about 20 minutes. Do you think that's enough time for us to get there and gather some stuff?"

"If you don't mind getting a ride on vampire-speed express, that should give us enough time to start getting some," Stefan said.

"Alright," Bonnie said, clapping her hands together. "Apparently getting turned invisible may tickle, so just warning you," Bonnie said with a laugh.

"I think I can deal with that," Stefan said, chuckling.

"Alright," said, taking a deep breath. "Here we go."

o-o-o-o-o

"You're a _what_?" Matt asked, his jaw dropping a bit. The first thing that came to his mind, for whatever reason, was his sister.

"Werewolf," Tyler said again.

Matt couldn't believe what he was hearing.

"I know it's kind of major, but after knowing that I'm a _vampire, _werewolf shouldn't be so hard to believe or accept," Caroline told Matt.

"It's alright Care," Tyler said. "He can react how he wants," Tyler said, taking a breath.

"Vicki," Matt whispered.

"What about her?" Caroline asked uneasily.

"Did Vicki know?" Matt asked.

"About me?" Tyler said, confused.

"Yeah," Matt said, nodding his head.

"No. _I _didn't even know about me back then," Tyler told his friend.

"Are you sure?" Matt asked.

"Yeah," Tyler said, beginning to get a bit angry. "Why?"

"Vicki's body was buried or hidden, wasn't it?" Matt asked Caroline. "You only ended up finding her body because the rain and everything washed it up, right?"

"What are you getting at, Matt?" Caroline asked, getting uncomfortable.

"Are you sure he didn't have anything to do with Vicki's death?" Matt asked Caroline.

"Okay bro, it's time to shut up," Tyler said, hands clenched into fists.

"What the hell, Matt?" Caroline said, not really believing the words coming out of Matt's mouth.

_Where is all that coming from, and why is he bringing up Vicki's death? Didn't I compel him not to question her death?_

"All I know is that even if no one else believes me, my sister didn't die a normal death, and I just keep learning one not normal thing after another," Matt mumbled.

Caroline was worried. Could compulsion wear off? Or maybe it never really worked? Could it have been because she had tears in her eyes when she had compelled him last time?

She was now worried that Matt might remember what Damon had told him about Vicki- all the things Caroline had made him forget.

"This guy is your best friend, remember? He didn't do anything to your sister," Caroline said to Matt.

"Is he my best friend?" Matt asked. "Are we really still best friends, man?" Matt asked, turning to Tyler, not smiling.

Matt wasn't even quite sure what came over him, he had calmed down outside before when Caroline and Tyler were explaining that Tyler had come to apologize to Caroline, but when Caroline wouldn't say exactly what the apology was relating to-and now with thoughts of his sister's death in his head, and seeing Caroline sticking up for Tyler- the calmness was gone and he wasn't buying the 'I just came here to apologize' bit any longer.

"Calm yourself the hell down, and I'll work on an answer for you," Tyler said angrily.

Caroline thought that the guys might actually come to blows, so she started to continue where Tyler left off before, hoping that it would calm things down.

"Tyler didn't know anything about being what he is meant. He didn't know what was gonna happen to him. Everything was new and he was alone. He made me think of myself during that first bit when I turned. I was alone. I was scared until Stefan helped me, and I didn't want the same thing to happen to Tyler. I learned what he learned. I just wanted to help him however I could-"

Tyler took over the story for Caroline, just feeling bad that both he and Matt were apparently ruining her night.

"My uncle was like me, but he never really fully got to tell me anything really important. Caroline was with me when I found this video of what happened to my uncle on the full moon. It wasn't pretty. It looked like torture. When my time came, I can verify that it definitely was torture... Caroline stayed with me when I went through the transformation, and she was there when I came back to myself. She was there with me through everything. I trusted her with everything... And then it didn't take long before everything went really wrong," Tyler said.

"This werewolf chick came to town and so did this guy, maybe he was her boyfriend- it doesn't matter. She told Tyler some things, and he got really mad at me. His uncle got killed and I knew about it. I didn't have anything to do with it, but I knew that it happened... His uncle got mixed up in something, and at the time D- someone thought that he was a threat to Elena. He got killed- I didn't tell Tyler because I was trying to keep everything normal and I was trying to keep several people safe, including Tyler. He never got to hear my side of things, he just heard that woman, and she made me seem like a villain- I guess, for lack of a better word. He thought I betrayed him," Caroline said, taking over the story.

Tyler took it back, not wanting to make Caroline have to recount what happened. "Caroline got kidnapped... Jules and the guy- they tortured her, literally," Tyler said, taking a deep breath.

"How'd they get you?" Matt asked Caroline quietly. "Are they stronger than you?"

Tyler continued talking, not wanting to make Caroline have to talk about it. "Alone, no. But there were two of them- but that's not how they got her. They staked her and they shot her, they used vervain on her... I wasn't there when they took her, but I saw them torturing her when they brought her to the woods... I didn't know what to do. I couldn't believe what I was seeing. I couldn't move. I could hardly speak. I was confused because Jules had me convinced that Care had betrayed me... I told them to stop, but they didn't," Tyler hated remembering this himself. He hated to remember how he had let her down. He hated hearing her screams in his head.

Matt eyed Tyler with disgust.

"It's over. It's in the past," Caroline said, looking from Matt to Tyler. "Stefan, Damon, and Bonnie came. It turned out fine. I'm still here."

"How can you even look at him after that? Why would you let him in your house?" Matt asked Caroline.

"I forgave him," Caroline sighed.

"He doesn't deserve it," Matt said.

"I'm well aware of that," Tyler said.

"You're an asshole, man," Matt said to Tyler. "I was glad to see you again, earlier, but I wish you never came back here. You should just get the hell out of town again."

"Matt, stop," Caroline said, rubbing her head.

"Why are you sticking up for him?" Matt asked her.

"What don't you get about 'I forgave him', babe?"

"Why? Why did you forgive him?" Matt asked Caroline, his voice rising.

"Dude, leave her alone," Tyler said.

"Stay out of it," Matt said.

"Both of you, shut the hell up or get out of my house," Caroline said, through clenched teeth.

"Seriously?" Matt said.

"_Yes_, seriously," Caroline said.

"He's got a thing for you, remember? He's back now and he's gonna try to take you away from me. This guy's messing with your head Caroline. Maybe it's some werewolf thing. Maybe I should go tell your mother there's a werewolf in town who's screwing with her daughter's head," Matt said, heading for the door.

Caroline was in front of Matt, blocking the door, before he could blink.

She couldn't let him leave, not when he basically just said that he was going to go spill Tyler's secret, and not with Caroline knowing that her compulsion didn't fully stick the last time with regards to Matt not questioning his sister's death anymore.

Caroline felt sick with herself. She was going to have to compel Matt again. This wasn't right, but Matt was in some weird, jealous, freaky place right now, and Caroline didn't trust him to leave and keep Tyler's secret.

"Matt, look at me," Caroline said. "You're not going to remember any of this. You're not going to remember Tyler telling you that he's a werewolf. You're not going to remember what we said about what happened to me. You're not going to remember coming here tonight. You're not going to be questioning your sister's death anymore. She's gone, Matt. Miss her, love her. But you're gonna stop wondering how she died. You're gonna go home. You're gonna fall asleep and I'll see you tomorrow, okay."

Matt nodded. "Okay."

Caroline moved out of Matt's way and he headed out the door.

"What was that?" Tyler asked.

"I made him forget," Caroline said, ashamed. "I played with his head- again. I just compelled the guy I love, again."

"I'm sorry," Tyler said awkwardly.

"Don't be mad at him, okay?" Caroline said, taking a seat on her couch, putting her head in her hands.

"He-"

"I don't wanna talk anymore tonight, okay," Caroline said.

"Alright, I'm getting out of here," Tyler said. "I'm sorry for causing trouble."

"You didn't do anything tonight... Goodnight Tyler."

"Goodnight Care," Tyler said, walking out of Caroline's house.

As soon as the door shut, Caroline burst into tears.

Matt's behaviour had come out of nowhere practically. He wasn't usually like that. Caroline blamed herself for the way Matt was acting. Things had been great between them. Caroline loved him. As soon as Tyler had shown up again, though, Matt wasn't the only one in her heart and that was a problem. That was a big and bad problem. It wasn't right, and it wasn't fair... If the situation had been reversed, and she came across a girl at Matt's house in the middle of the night and Matt had flat out lied to her, she would have been pissed and jealous too.

Caroline wasn't quite sure what had happened. It didn't make sense, and she just kept feeling worse and worse. Her relationship with Matt was in danger, and it had happened in a flash. And it was her fault. She loved Matt, but Tyler was back and she couldn't deny it- Tyler crept his way back into her heart. Matt had every right to be jealous. He was right, Tyler probably was gonna try to take her away from Matt. The bad part was that Caroline was well aware of this now, but there was no way that she was going to tell him to stay away. She didn't want him to go anywhere.

o-o-o-o-o-o

"Okay, so what I'm doing now is I'm going to freeze this image of what the tree looks like so that if there are cameras, no one will be able to see anything getting taken from the tree. They wouldn't be able to see us, but they could have seen a branch get pulled off, you know?" Bonnie said, explaining why she was doing what she was doing.

"That makes sense. It's a good idea," Stefan said.

"Let's just grab what we can from the lowest spots first," Bonnie said.

"I think it's better if we grab some from higher up because there's a lot more branches and leaves there. If anyone does come looking around eventually and your freezing of the image there is now fades, they'd notice if we've taken from the bottom," Stefan said.

"Good point," Bonnie said.

"I'll climb up and I'll start pulling off some of the inner branches," Stefan said, already in the tree before he finished speaking. "Watch out," he said, throwing some smaller branches down to Bonnie.

Bonnie picked them up and threw them inside the duffel bag that she had also temporarily turned invisible.

Stefan threw down some more branches and Bonnie quickly gathered them again, throwing them into the bag.

It wasn't long before the bag was full and Stefan and Bonnie were back at Bonnie's house.

"I feel very sneaky," Bonnie laughed, as she closed the door.

"So do I," Stefan said, grinning. "You tired yet, Bonnie?" he laughed.

"Yes actually, I'm finally feeling sleepy. I think that bit of excitement and all of that energy use did the trick."

"I'm gonna head back to my house. I can come by tomorrow sometime and start working on sharpening all the wood into actual stakes."

"I can do that," Bonnie said.

"We don't need you wasting your energy. Yours is a lot more important than mine at this point. Your the one with magic, not me."

"You have a point," Bonnie admitted. "Alrighty Stefan, I'm gonna go pass out on my bed now."

"Goodnight Bonnie. I'll see you in class."

"Oh yeah, it's Monday, fun," Bonnie sighed. "I'll see you soon then," Bonnie said, covering a yawn.

Stefan laughed as he waved goodbye.

o-o-o-o-o

Elena lay awake in her bed, re-reading Stefan's text, unable to fall asleep. She hadn't responded to the text because part of her was very annoyed with her boyfriend at the moment, and also because she didn't even have the energy to respond. She was tired, but she couldn't sleep.

Between being annoyed with Stefan and Katherine and Anton, pissed off that Isobel was around, confused about what she was feeling towards John, wondering what her brother had said to Bonnie, and still trying to process the situation with Damon- Elena's head was absolutely full. She couldn't turn her brain off, but she wished that she could.

Elena forced her eyes open wider and started to reply to Stefan's message finally. She was not going to be getting any sleep anytime soon. His visiting Katherine was bothering Elena more than she liked to admit, but even if she wasn't thrilled with him at the moment, he always helped clear her head. She wasn't going to bring up Katherine, because that would just bother her, and she wasn't going to tell him about what she learned about Damon, but the whole John and Isobel situation was still running through her head, and Stefan would be great to talk to about it.

'I woke up and you were gone, so I got up and left. I'm back at my house now and I can't sleep. If you're done doing whatever you were doing, could you come by?'

Writing that message took far longer than usual because Elena could hardly keep her eyes open, but she finally finished the text and pushed send.

She smiled when a minute later, there was a knock against her window. Stefan was there.

She got up and opened the window.

"Hey," he said, placing a kiss on her cheek.

"Hey yourself," she said back.

"Are you totally pissed at me for running out?" Stefan asked.

"Not _totally, _but considerably," Elena said, plopping back down on her bed.

I'm sorry, really. Something came up. I didn't think I'd be gone long," he said.

"What was it?" Elena asked him.

"Nothing important," Stefan said quickly.

Elena held in her groan.

There was a problem here, but Elena didn't have the strength to deal with it tonight. She just needed him to ease her mind right now where John and Isobel were concerned.

"I don't buy that, boyfriend. But I'll put it aside for now, because I need you to help me clear my head. Wanna hear about the rest of my night?"

"Tell me all about it," Stefan said, joining her on her bed.

Elena told him about John and Isobel, and before long she was lying with her head on his chest.

"Don't worry about Isobel for now. Maybe she only came by to check on John. She might not actually be here to cause trouble... And John not being sick is a good thing for you. The guy's your dad. You don't have to feel weird for being relieved that he's okay. It's a family thing. Blood is blood. They can do horrible things, but most of the time, at the end of the day, the thought of losing them is usually scary as hell."

"Like you and Damon, when he was bad?" Elena asked.

"That's a pretty good example," Stefan admitted.

"Stefan," Elena said.

"Yeah?"

"Don't leave me alone in bed again. I don't like it," she whispered.

"I'm sorry," he said, running his fingers through her hair. "I'm not going anywhere."

"You better be here when I wake up," she said, tracing his hand with her fingers.

"I'm not going anywhere. I promise," he said.

"Okay," Elena said, taking a deep breath, feeling better.

"Even when you're mad at me, you always know that I love you, right?" Stefan asked her.

Elena closed her eyes. She could be irritated with him. She could be angry. She could be worried about Katherine, but she did know that he loved her. She just needed to remind herself of that.

"Yeah, I do know that. And you know that even when I'm mad at you, I still love you too, right?"

"I do," he said.

"Good," she whispered. "You're comfy, have I ever told you that? You did the trick Stefan. I think I can sleep now."

"Glad I could help. Sweet dreams," he said, finally closing his eyes.


	40. Chapter 40

o-0-o-0-o Thanks for the favourites and alerts. Thanks to laugh4life, David Fishwick, Sasha R, Marie and celia for the reviews. Here's chapter 40. Hope everyone will enjoy this new chapter. Leave me a review and let me know what you think o-0-o-0-o

Bonnie dragged herself out of bed, already late for school, dreading having to head off to class, but now, with the situation she was in, she wished all she had to do was go to school.

First class should have ended by now so she picked up her phone and quickly dialled Stefan, hoping that he'd pick up.

"Hello."

"Stefan, sorry to bug you. But I really need your help. I need you to get to my house right away," Bonnie said.

"I'll be right there," he said.

"Thanks," Bonnie said, holding onto her dining room table for support. She felt weak. Her knees felt like they might give out any second.

Luka Martin lay sprawled out, knocked unconscious on Bonnie's living room floor.

After Bonnie had made herself get out of bed, the first thing she saw when she walked down her stairs was Luka opening the duffel bag full of white-ash wood that she and Stefan had collected.

"_What the hell are you doing here?"_

"_Bonnie, I know what this is. You're gonna kill the Originals. I want them dead too, okay. Let me help you!"_

"_How do I know that you're telling the truth?"_

"_You just know, Bonnie! Let's do this together please. We're stronger together than we are alone"_

_Luka reached his hand into the bag and Bonnie reacted, not knowing for sure if she could trust him._

_Bonnie shot out a blast of energy that knocked Luka off his feet and away from the duffel bag._

_Luka started to get up but Bonnie sent out another blast._

_She didn't know what to think. he might have been telling the truth but she could not risk anything right now._

_Luka shot a spell out at Bonnie, to defend himself, sending Bonnie flying backwards, her back smashing against the wall._

"_I don't want to hurt you, Bonnie!"_

_Bonnie took a breath and sent out her strongest blast yet. Luka flew backwards, into the wall near the front door, head smashing into the wall._

Bonnie was still tired from all the energy she had used last night, or technically this morning, on the white-ash wood mission, and Luka's powerful blast also took a lot out of her. She was not finding it very easy to keep herself steady and standing without support.

The magic she had used with Stefan was actually very strong stuff and how tired she still was proved it. She wasn't ready yet to get Katherine out of the tomb, but what she had just done, though, actually proved how strong she was getting. She'd got the better of Luka, and she knew he was no slouch in the magic department even though he was young.

"Bonnie! Are you okay?" Bonnie heard Stefan say from outside her door.

She started to make her way to the door to open it for him, but she collapsed half-way there.

Stefan forced his way in and found Bonnie lying on the floor.

Stefan's jaw nearly dropped when he noticed Luka Martin lying knocked out on the floor. He put two and two together and figured that he and Bonnie had just been fighting.

Stefan tried to shake Bonnie awake and when her eyes didn't immediately open, he bit into his wrist and gave her some of his blood.

It didn't take too long for Bonnie to open her eyes.

"Hey," Bonnie said, pushing herself back up into sitting position.

"Hi," Stefan said, rubbing his head. "What's he doing here?" he asked, nodding at Luka.

"I'll tell you in a minute," Bonnie sighed. "Can you bring him here please?"

Stefan nodded, and brought Luka over to Bonnie.

Bonnie took a deep breath and tried to remember the words to the spell she needed to recite. She needed to know if she could trust Luka or not.

"I need to know if we can really trust him," she told Stefan, before placing both of her hands on either side of ok Luka's head.

Bonnie muttered some words that Stefan didn't understand, was then silent for about 30 seconds, and then asked the knocked-out Luka "Do you really want to kill Klaus and Elijah?" Can I really trust you? Do you really want to help?"

Luka tossed and turned on the floor.

"Answer me," Bonnie said.

"I want Klaus and Elijah dead. You can trust me. I do want to help," Luka said, sounding sleepy.

Bonnie took her hands away from Luka's head, and put her own head into her hands.

"I'm _so _not going to any classes today," Bonnie mumbled.

"You wanna tell me what happened now?" Stefan asked.

"I slept through my alarm clock. I woke up late and came down here and I saw him by the duffel bag with the white-ash wood in it. I don't know how he got in here. He said he knew what that stuff was and that he wanted to help, and that we'd be stronger together than alone. . But I freaked out and kind of went on the attack a bit, he got me with a bit of his magic but then I knocked him out with mine- and not long after that I wound up on the floor and then you were here... What do I do, Stefan?"

"If whatever you just did made him tell the truth, then it's good that he wants to help. But-"

"But we can't let him get involved with anything right now, right?" Bonnie said interrupting him.

"It's just, it wouldn't feel right to let him in on what's going on when we still haven't told Damon and Elena and everyone."

"That's exactly what I was thinking," Bonnie said, unable to stifle a yawn.

"But then again, he could help you with bringing down the seal on the tomb, which I know isn't going to be easy. I don't want you hurting yourself. I won't hold it against you if feel like you need to tell him what's going on," Stefan said.

"I don't need him. I really am getting stronger and I'll be able to bring down the seal myself. I just need some more time to build up to it. I've got to be smart with my magic, that' s all... Now that I know we can trust him, because what I just did was basically a truth spell, I do want him on our team, but only after we tell the people who are _already_ on our team. I can't tell him the truth about everything before we tell Elena. It wouldn't feel right," Bonnie sighed.

Stefan nodded.

Luka began to stir and his eyes started to open again.

"I'm sorry for going on the attack, but I don't know how you got in here, and I wasn't sure if I'd be able to trust you," Bonnie said, as Luka sat up. "But I know I can now."

"Then let me help," Luka said, not even registering that there was someone else in the room.

"This is going to sound like I'm blowing you off, but I'm not," Bonnie said, trying to explain. "I can't let you help right now, though."

"Oh come on," Luka said.

"You said that you care about me- if that's true, you won't give me a hard time on this. I _promise _that I will tell you what's going on, but it has to be on my time. I need you to give me some time. I need you to be patient, please."

"You need me to stay, Bonnie?" Stefan asked.

"Thanks for coming, but it's good now. You can go back to school," Bonnie told him.

"You sure?"

"Yeah," she said.

"Alright. Make sure you get some sleep when you're done talking to him. You obviously need some rest."

"Trust me, I'm going back to bed soon. No worries about that. If anyone asks, just say that I had a paper that I forgot to finish and that I'm really tired right now," Bonnie told him.

He nodded. "See you later," Stefan said, heading out the door. "Oh and you need to fix the lock on this door. I kinda broke it."

"I can fix it," Luka said..

When Luka closed the door behind Stefan, Bonnie said, "It's nice to know that I can trust you, but now it's time you tell me how the hell you got in my house and how you know what's in that bag."

o-o-o-o-o-o

Katherine opened her eyes, not surprised that Stefan wasn't there. Whether he stayed through the night or not, which she didn't know, what mattered most to her was that he came and that he stayed with her, even if it was just for awhile.

She had actually fallen asleep, and her head was pounding less than it had been before. She hoped that Anton wouldn't show his face, because she didn't need another freak-out episode.

It had started to get boring very quickly being stuck in the tomb alone, but at this point, with the exception of Stefan, she'd be happy and calm if everyone left her the hell alone and no one ever came down here.

She still couldn't get over the fact that Anton was here in Mystic Falls. Part of her was still waiting to wake up from this dream/nightmare to the world where he was dead. She still couldn't believe that he was alive. It shouldn't be so shocking or hard to make sense of, but his still being alive was still shocking to her.

She sat thinking for a moment. She knew at this point she hadn't forgiven him for what he had done over 500 years ago. If ever she had forgiven him, that was long gone. She did not forgive him now, but she wondered if she had when she was still human.

She remembered feeling hatred and anger more than anything. She remembered knowing that he was sorry. She remembered the look on his face both times he had come to see her while she was pregnant, the first time not knowing that she was pregnant. She remembered that her hate for him had lessened with some time back when she was human, but she didn't think she had forgiven him back then, even when she still had it in her to be able to.

Anton was back, and Stefan's words from days before, or had it been more than a week- were in her head. The words about Elena thinking Anton was related to her, and one of the reasons being that his eyes were the same as Isobel's. There was a reason that Katherine had very rarely looked Isobel in the eyes for very long, and that was the exact reason.

It was weird, none of the people from her line looked anything like him. Every single one of them resembled her in one way or another, bigger or smaller, including Isobel. But one feature from him, just the one- the eyes, finally made it's way into one of the descendants, and Katherine wished it hadn't. No sign of him would have been the best thing, and there hadn't been for hundreds of years, but then Isobel came along and so did Anton's eyes.

"Why the hell are you down here?"

Katherine looked up and smirked. Isobel was here.

"Why are _you _down here?" Katherine asked in return.

"Not happy to see me?"

"Didn't say that," Katherine told her, getting up. "I asked why you're here. What's brought you to town?"

"John, and a feeling like I needed to be here," Isobel said.

"John, huh? What's up with Elena's daddy?" Katherine asked, rolling her eyes.

"Nothing you'd care about. Speaking of fathers, though, I met your baby's last night."

Katherine banged her head against the wall. "That's nice. He's an asshole," was all Katherine said.

"I thought he was dead."

"So did I. I don't want to talk about the guy, so pick a new topic."

"He's gonna come by to see you in a bit, I think," Isobel said.

"Lovely," Katherine said sarcastically.

"If you won't say anything about him, at least tell me what the hell is going on here," Isobel said, sitting down. "Why are you down here? And what the hell is going on with my kid? I had some weird feeling like something big is gonna go down in this town soon."

Katherine sighed and began to tell her what had happened.

o-o-o-o-o-o

"Where'd you run off to?" Elena asked Stefan when he got back to school.

"I went to help Bonnie with something. She forgot that she had something due today and she didn't finish it so she asked if I could help her with a couple things real quick," Stefan said, cringing on the inside. He really hated not telling Elena the truth.

"She just text me saying she's not feeling good and that she borrowed you for a few minutes to help her. Did she look okay?" Elena asked, concerned for her friend.

"She'll be okay, but the poor girl is exhausted," Stefan said truthfully.

"Elena's mine after school, Stefan," Caroline said, walking over to the pair. "We're gonna go see Bonnie and bitch my favourite Bennett out for not being here today when I pulled _my _ sleepless and very messed-up-in-the-head-right-now self out of bed to get here. I need girl talk time."

Stefan just laughed and patted Caroline on the head. "You don't sound too happy today."

"Very good observation. I had quite the night after I got home," Caroline mumbled.

"Elena, do you have a minute?" a girl from class called out.

"Sure, just a second," Elena said. "I'll see you in a few minutes in class," she told Stefan. "And I'll see you at lunch- then you can start telling me what happened last night," she said to Caroline.

Elena walked over to the girl from class, and Caroline remembered what she had wanted to ask Stefan.

She pulled him into a corner and quietly asked, "Can compulsion wear off?"

"Why?" Stefan asked, getting concerned.

"I compelled Matt to never question Vicki's death again. I compelled him to accept that she was gone, but not to keep being suspicious, but last night he was saying that he knew Vicki's death wasn't normal, among other things. I had to compel him again. I don't know what happened the first time. I was thinking that maybe because I had tears in my eyes the first time- it didn't fully work properly. I don't know," Caroline sighed.

"I don't really have an answer for you. But it kind of makes sense that if you had tears in your eyes that it might not work properly. It's all about the eye contact," Stefan said.

Caroline saw Matt approaching out of the corner of her eye and so did Stefan. "I'll see you later," he told Caroline, leaving to give her some privacy with Matt.

"Hey," he said, giving her a kiss.

"Hey mister," she said.

"Have you seen Ty yet?" Matt asked.

"What do you mean?"

"I just saw him about ten minutes ago. He was in the office. He's coming back here. He was registering for school again," Matt explained.

"No," Caroline said quietly. "I haven't seen him yet."

Caroline didn't know why she was so surprised that Tyler was registering for school again. If he was going to stay in town, of course he'd have to come back to school. She honestly hadn't thought about it, though. His being in town was confusing her feelings up enough as it is, but him being back at school with them was going to confuse everything even more. Her feelings for Tyler were only going to grow, and as someone with a boyfriend, this was not a good thing.

o-o-o-o-o-o

Isobel left the tomb about ten minutes earlier. Katherine had told her some things about what was going on without going into any real detail. She didn't want anyone knowing anything really. besides Stefan and Bonnie until she actually got out of this tomb.

"How does this work exactly? Are you stuck in there?"

Katherine gritted her teeth and pounded her fist on the ground. Anton was back again.

"Go away," Katherine muttered.

"If you're stuck in there, maybe I should join you. You'd have to talk to me, then," Anton said, getting closer.

"Don't you fucking dare come in here!" Katherine screamed. "Don't you dare."

"I want you to talk to me."

"Anton, just go away."

"No. I'm coming in, and you're going to talk to me," he said stubbornly.

"Stay the hell away from me. If you come in here, I _promise _ you that I will kick your ass all over the place," Katherine warned.

"I don't care," he said. "I want to talk to you."

"That sounds about right!" Katherine yelled. "You want what you want, and you don't care when the other person doesn't want the same thing You're still a selfish bastard 500 years later. Do me a favour and go die somewhere!"

"I'm sorry for everything that happened, but I'm not leaving," he said, trying to get into the tomb, but Katherine was having none of that.

"Go away!" she yelled.

"I'm sorry for this," Anton said, pulling something out of his pocket.

Katherine was momentarily distracted, and Anton took that opportunity to throw the contents of the bottle he was holding at Katherine.

Katherine hissed in pain for a second as vervain hit her in the face. The second was all Anton needed to slip into the tomb with her.

As soon as the pain wore off and Katherine saw that Anton was now in the tomb with her, she flipped out completely.

She lunged at Anton, throwing him into the cave-like walls of the tomb, and went on the attack.


	41. Chapter 41

o-0-o-0-o- Thanks to those who alerted and favourited, and thanks to laugh4life, David Fishwick, veruca, celia, and Marie for reviewing. Here's chapter 41. I hope you enjoy it. Leave me a review and let me know what you think o-0-o-0-o

"How did you get in my house? And how did you know what was in that bag?"Bonnie repeated.

"You forgot to lock your door last night, or this morning I guess," Luka said.

"Seriously?" Bonnie asked, feeling stupid that she would forget to do that.

"Yeah," Luka said with a hesitant chuckle.

"Wait, you've been here since I got back? You were here while I slept?"

"Yeah," Luka said awkwardly. "I stayed down here. I didn't sleep-stalk you or anything. And I didn't look in that bag til this morning."

"You still haven't explained anything. Start talking, Luka," Bonnie said, rubbing her eyes, wanting to close them and sleep really badly.

"I came by to see you because I wanted to know if you were ready or up to working with me. I haven't heard from you in awhile and I'm kind of going crazy constantly pretending to be Elijah's buddy while secretly thinking about all the ways that I could kill him, and how I'm not really sure if I'll be able to do it on my own and wondering if you were ever going to talk to me again... Anyway, I didn't really want to talk while Stefan was here and, then you had said that you were tired, so I just kept my mouth shut and stayed unseen. I decided to just wait until you woke up to talk to you... You're probably wondering why I didn't just leave. I know I should have. I know I didn't have any right to stay, but I'm getting sick of being alone all the time. I'm sick of the place I'm staying and it just felt _comfortable _being here."

Bonnie felt a tug at her heart and almost instantly felt somewhat guilty. Bonnie had no love for Jonas, Luka's dad, but she knew that it must have been hard for Luka with his father gone. She had never really thought of how lonely he must be with pretty much only Elijah as regular company. Luka had been her friend for a bit before, and for awhile Bonnie wouldn't have ruled out that brief friendship becoming something more than that. She shouldn't have so completely pushed him out of her head.

She could justify not thinking about him because she had been really busy, and while she was fairly sure she could have trusted him back then, she had still had her doubts, but still-right now, that wasn't lessening her feelings of guilt.

"I know that things must be really hard for you in regards to your dad, and I'm sorry that you're having a hard time with everything, but just try to think ahead. There's gonna be a time coming soon, and you're not gonna have to worry about Elijah anymore and you'll be able to do whatever you want again. Just try to remember that," Bonnie said.

Luka nodded his head.

"Are you hungry or thirsty or anything?" Bonnie asked him.

"I'm fine Bonnie. I know you're tired, so I'm gonna get out of your hair. But to answer your other question, I knew what was in the bag because my dad had mentioned that stuff before, at the beginning when working with Elijah was something new. He wasn't really sure if we could trust him at the beginning, so he was looking into some things to give us an advantage if he was to turn on us, and white-ash wood was one of those things. We just never knew for certain if it was actually real or not."

"It's definitely real," Bonnie said.

"Okay, well, I guess I'll be going now," Luka said, heading for the door.

"Hey," Bonnie said before he left. "I can't tell you everything right now, and I know that you don't want to hear that and that you probably resent me for it- and I get it. I'd be annoyed if I were you. But if you still want to help right now you could study as much as possible, learn as much as you can about our magic, learn about some darker magic- don't do any, but do some research because I guarantee that Klaus and Elijah are gonna have some magic on their side too. Learn more about vampires because I'm pretty sure that Elijah and Klaus aren't coming alone... You can still help if you want, even though I can't tell you everything right now. I'd really appreciate it," Bonnie said, feeling slightly bad for adding that last part in, because it's not really like she deserved any favours from him.

"I can do that for you," Luka said, smiling a bit.

Bonnie chuckled a bit.

"What?" Luka asked.

"I forgot what it was like having someone like me around," Bonnie said.

"Huh?"

"That change in your emotion, just then, the smile- I don't know how to explain it, but the vibes you're sending off just got a bit stronger. I felt a little change," she explained.

"I kind of forgot too," Luka admitted. "It's nice to be around anyone other than Elijah at all, but someone like me- you, there's a comforting similarity there."

"It _is _kinda nice," Bonnie admitted.

"I guess I'll see you when I see you," Luka said, looking like he really didn't want to leave.

"I promise I'll call you," Bonnie told him, feeling bad that he looked so bummed.

"Alright," he said with a nod. "Take care, Bonnie."

"You too, Luka," Bonnie said, closing the door as Luka exited.

Bonnie wanted her bed, but she was too lazy and tired to walk up her stairs, so she decided that the couch would do. She grabbed the big pillow and plopped down onto the couch, falling asleep quicker than she had in quite awhile.

o-o-o-o-o-

"You-Stupid-Stupid-Stupid- Bastard!" Katherine hissed, smashing her fist into Anton's face at every word, before throwing him across the tomb again.

"You- Just-Don't-Listen." Kick to the face, kick to the ribs, kick to the face, kick to the ribs.

"You should have just left me the hell alone," Katherine continued ranting, smashing Anton's face into the cold, hard, ground.

There were several spots of blood staining the ground.

"Hated you then," she said, pulling him back up, punching him in the face again, "And I hate you now," she continued, tossing him face first into the wall again.

Blood was now splattered on the tomb wall.

More punching, more kicking, more blood.

"What the hell?" Damon yelled, appearing in the tomb.

Katherine ignored Damon's voice and continued her assault on Anton. More spots of blood decorated the ground.

"Katherine, stop it," Damon said. "He's not even fighting you back. Let the loser go."

"Come on Anton, fight back, you bastard," Katherine yelled, kicking him in the groin.

Anton groaned, but didn't make a move to defend himself.

"Come on," she said again, tossing him back into the wall.

Anton fell back down to the ground, blood pouring down his face. "I'm not going to fight you," he choked out.

"You should, cuz I'm not gonna stop," Katherine said, kicking him some more.

"Go ahead, hurt me all you want. I won't fight you back. I came here to protect you. I came here to make sure that no one was gonna hurt you. Keep it coming, I won't raise a hand to defend myself," Anton said, voice barely above a whisper.

After a couple minutes, Katherine moved away from Anton and just frowned. He just ruined her mood yet again. "You're a pathetic loser," she told him.

Damon had come down here because he was bored. He was bored and since it was Monday, that meant the little gang was at school and there was no one to bug. The plan was to come and annoy her and taunt and tease her with some alcohol and then he'd probably just give it to her because he did feel a little bit sorry for her. So much for his plan to amuse himself.

"Here, you look like you need it," Damon said, handing her the bottle of whiskey. "I came down here to annoy you cuz I was bored, but maybe I'll save that for another day."

"How _kind,_" Katherine said, grabbing the bottle from him.

"Well this turned out to be no fun. I'm out of here," Damon said, leaving.

Anton pushed himself up into a sitting position with some effort and just stared at Katherine and the bottle in her hands.

"What?" Katherine said acidly. "You want some? Well too bad, I'm not sharing. I'm gonna need to get wasted to be able tolerate your damn presence in here."

"I don't want any. I haven't touched any of that stuff since Bulgaria."

Katherine raised her eyebrow sceptically.

"Why are you surprised? I told you I'd never drink again, and I haven't, and I'm not going to," Anton said, pushing himself backwards to lean against the tomb wall.

"Whatever," Katherine said, shaking her head. "Get up," she told him. "You stay in the back. The last thing I need is for Elijah to stop by and see you. I don't need an extra headache."

Anton got up and walked to the back without a word.

o-o-o-o-o

Damon waited until school was done and then went to meet his brother to tell him that Katherine now had company in the tomb.

Stefan, Elena, Caroline and Jeremy all walked out together.

"Someone's missing. Where's Bon-Bon?" Damon asked.

"She's at home. She's not feeling great," Jeremy said.

"Did you manage to piss her off again from the time I last saw her til the morning?" Damon asked, loving to annoy Elena's little brother. He couldn't help it, it was fun.

Jeremy rolled his eyes and ignored Damon, while Elena and Caroline both asked at the same time "What _did _you say to her?"

Damon grinned and Stefan just shook his head.

"I'm sure she's gonna tell you all about it, no need to hear what an idiot I was from me," Jeremy muttered.

"Anyway," Damon said, remembering why he came here. "Guess what baby bro?"

"What?" Stefan asked, already having a bad feeling.

"Katherine's got company in the tomb."

"What do you mean?" Stefan asked.

"Anton/Anthony/whatever the hell he's called got into the tomb with her and when I went down there to bug her cuz I was bored, she was kicking his ass all over the tomb. Bitchy Petrova is not a very happy camper right now," Damon said.

Stefan dashed off before Damon could say anything else.

Elena bit her lip but kept her mouth shut. _ Anton's down there now. She's probably going nuts. Stefan's just gonna make sure she's not totally freaking out._

Caroline cringed a little bit seeing Elena's expression. She grabbed her friend's arm. "Let's go grab ice cream. We'll be nice and let Jeremy go see Bonnie before we ambush her. Let's go Damon, you're coming too. You're paying."

"Oh yay, lucky me," Damon said, rolling his eyes.

"Go see your girlfriend," Elena said, nudging her brother.

Jeremy smiled a bit and headed off.

o-o-o-o-o

"Are you okay?" Stefan asked Katherine.

Katherine was sitting right at the entrance of the tomb.

"Better now," Katherine said with a humourless laugh. "You're much nicer to look at than my new roommate."

"Damon said you kicked your stalker's ass," Stefan said, hoping to get a grin out of Katherine.

"That was pretty fun," Katherine said with a half-hearted smile. "But he wouldn't even fight me back. Some of the appeal was gone."

"You'll be out of here soon, don't worry," Stefan told her.

"How soon, Stefan? Because I can't freakin' stand being around this guy. All I want to do is hurt him and yell. I want to be as far away from this guy as possible. I've got other things to think about. I don't have time to deal with this guy when we've got Klaus and Elijah coming. I don't need to be thinking about how much I can't stand this guy while I'm plotting on how to make Elijah and Klaus suffer as much as possible."

"Go ahead and plan away for making them suffer. I'm here to keep them away from you. I'm here to help you, so I'm all for you making them suffer," Anton said from the back of the tomb.

"I don't want _your _fucking help!" Katherine yelled. "How many damn times do I have to say that to you? I would rather be dead than be helped by you. So just sit there and shut the hell up before I ask Stefan to go find me a stake to use on you so that I can be rid of you for good."

"You can stake me after we get rid of the guys who are after you," Anton said.

Katherine closed her eyes and took some deep breaths. This guy was driving her insane.

"Pretend like he's not here, Katherine," Stefan said.

"Easier said than done, love," Katherine said through clenched teeth.

"Shouldn't you be with your girlfriend or something, aren't you supposed to be the perfect boyfriend? You shouldn't be here with your ex," Anton said to Stefan from the back of the tomb.

"What don't you understand about 'shut the hell up'?" Katherine hissed, dashing to the back of the tomb, breaking the bottle she was still holding over his head. "_You _don't get to speak to _him. _ You're a worthless piece of crap. You don't get to talk to him and make stupid little comments. The guy _is_ the perfect boyfriend. I've got plenty of my own memories to back that up. Elena's lucky as hell to have him. You could only _wish _to be 1% of the guy he is- and you wouldn't even be able to measure up to that," Katherine said, pissed off that Anton thought he had any right to criticize Stefan for anything, pissed off that he was still talking.

"Katherine come back here," Stefan called from the front. "This guy's not worth the energy. He's not worth it at all," he said, trying to calm her down. Anton was clearly not what Katherine needed to be dealing with right now.

Katherine walked back and sat down in the same spot again.

"Want to hear some good news?" Stefan asked her, wanting to distract her from Anton's presence.

"If you've got some, then absolutely," Katherine said, sighing.

"We've got some of that stuff we're going to need," Stefan told her.

'White-ash wood?' Katherine mouthed silently.

Stefan nodded and Katherine genuinely grinned, forgetting about Anton for a moment.

"Things are coming along, Katherine. Everything is gonna be better soon enough."

o-o-o-o-o

Elena had been pretty quiet and both Damon and Caroline noticed.

"It's only cuz she made him, you know," Caroline blurted out.

"Huh?" Elena asked.

"He only went running to see her cuz there's this connection thing because she made him," Caroline said, trying to make Elena feel better about Stefan.

"She made Damon too," Elena said, staring at her ice cream. "Did Damon go off running?"

"No, but Damon was already there. He didn't need to see anything because he already saw. And it's different," Caroline said.

"Why is it different?" Elena asked.

"Damon's spent the past how many months hating Katherine's guts," Caroline said. "Stefan hasn't spent these past months hating her."

"What's your point Care?" Elena asked tiredly.

"Considering that he doesn't hate her, it's normal that he'd want to see what was going on. It's got to be the weird blood-link thing."

"It's sweet that you're trying to make me feel better, but you don't need to make excuses for Stefan," Elena said, running her hands through her hair.

"It's not an excuse. You see this idiot here?" Caroline said, pointing at Damon. "It was his blood that turned me. I don't hate him, so even though there are times where I dream about kicking his ass, there's still some stupid weird-ass blood connection that makes me feel bad if something bad happens to him."

Damon smirked and Caroline smacked him upside the head. "It's got to be the same thing for Stefan with Katherine."

_Maybe so Care, but that's not making me feel any better. _

"Stefan loves you. He'd kill for you. Going to see her means nothing. Don't let it get to you babe," Caroline told her best friend.

Damon remained quiet because he really didn't know what to say.

Elena took a deep breath. Maybe she was being stupid, who knows, maybe she was wrong, but she couldn't stand it anymore. Maybe it's because they looked exactly alike, but Elena was _not _okay with Stefan running off to see Katherine right now. It was just getting worse for her. Maybe she was crazy, but this just wasn't all right anymore. There had always been a little bit of insecurity where Katherine was concerned, but it had grown a lot recently.

Elena told herself that Stefan loved her. And she knew this to be true. The question wasn't about if he loved her or not. The question now, for Elena, was if maybe he had started to love Katherine again too. Wondering about that scared the hell out of Elena.

Elena's eyes were shiny and both Damon and Caroline could tell that she was close to crying.

"I need some more ice cream," Elena said, getting up. "I'll be back."

Elena still had half a cup of untouched ice cream at her spot. She just needed to get away so she cold blink away her tears before they fell.

Caroline sighed and put her head in her hands and Damon got up and walked over to Elena.

Elena quickly wiped her eyes.

"Everything's gonna be fine," Damon said.

Elena shook her head.

Damon nodded and Elena shook her head again.

Damon put his hands on either side of Elena's face and kissed her forehead.

"Everything's gonna be fine," he repeated.

Caroline looked at Damon and Elena and wondered if her best friend had any clue that it wasn't only the youngest Salvatore that was in love with her.


	42. Chapter 42

o-0-o-0-o- Thanks to David Fishwick, laugh4life, Raya, Marie and Hooked-On-TVD for reviewing the last chapter. Here's the new one. It was ready to be posted yesterday but my internet was not working, so here it is now. Leave me a review and let me know what you think o-0-o-0-o

"I know I've said it like 50 times already, but I really am sorry for acting like such a jackass last night," Jeremy said, taking a seat on Bonnie's couch.

"It's okay," Bonnie said. "It's your one free pass. We're good Jer, but pull something like that again with me and we probably won't be. I like what we've got here, but I'm not gonna put up with weird-ass jealousy and talking to me stupidly," she told him. "If something's bugging you, _talk _to me about it. Don't act like an idiot again, just talk to me properly- I'm a good listener. I might even be able to make you feel better. If something's wrong I'd like to be able to help you."

"Okay," Jeremy said, nodding.

"Come here, scoot closer," Bonnie said with a little laugh. "I have no energy to move."

Jeremy moved closer and Bonnie gave him a quick kiss.

"Now put a smile on your face, and let's move on," she told him.

"Alright," he said, a smile forming on his face.

"Much better," Bonnie said.

o-o-o-o-o-o-

"Do you need me to bring you anything?" Stefan asked Katherine, getting up.

"You gotta head out?" Katherine asked, sigihing

"Yeah," Stefan said.

"I need some blood," she said. "I'm all out."

"Anything else?"

"You don't seem to be a fan of the idea of me getting drunk out of my mind, so no, I guess I'm good with the blood," Katherine said, leaning her head against the wall.

"Okay, I'll be back in a few minutes," Stefan said, dashing off to his house.

He quickly grabbed a few blood bags and poured the contents into some empty bottles and headed back to the tomb.

Stefan felt bad that Katherine had to be stuck in the tomb with someone she couldn't stand, especially _alone_ with someone she couldn't stand. Stefan wanted to keep her company, but the rest of the day was all about Elena. Stefan knew that Elena was not 100% percent happy with him, she had made it pretty clear last night.

He hated to know that he had done anything other than make her happy. What he wanted more than anything was to just be with Elena, and for her to be safe and happy. He owed her a night without interruptions, without something crazy going down, he owed her night that was only about her- about them.

He was back at the tomb within minutes, just like he told Katherine.

"Here you go," Stefan said, passing her the bottles.

"Thanks," she said. "You gonna come back tomorrow?" Katherine asked, trying not to sound too desperate or hopeful. If she was going to be stuck in this tomb with Anton, she was going to need to see Stefan to stay sane.

"Yeah," Stefan said. "I'll be here."

"Cool," Katherine said, trying not to sound too relieved. "Have a good night, Stefan," she said, rubbing her temples.

"You-"

"Were you gonna say 'you too'?" Katherine asked, laughing. "My night's gonna suck."

"Just pretend likes he's not here," Stefan told her.

Katherine just rolled her eyes. "Bye Stefan."

"I'll be back tomorrow," he said, walking out and feeling bad for Katherine. He felt like crap for just leaving her there. If this had been months and months earlier he might not have felt bad, but he did now. He didn't enjoy seeing her upset, but he pushed that out of his head because he had stuff to do. He'd check on Katherine tomorrow, tonight was only about Elena and no one else.

Stefan dialled Elena's number and waited for her to pick up.

Outside of the little ice cream shop Elena heard her phone ring and it made her jump a bit, at the same time creating a bit of a distance from Damon after he'd placed a soft kiss to her forehead.

Elena wiped her eyes with one hand and answered her phone with the other.

"Hey," she said, trying to sound like she hadn't just been crying.

"Hey beautiful," Stefan said on the other line. "Your place or mine after you guys see Bonnie?" Stefan asked.

"We're still on?" Elena asked, twirling a piece of her hair around her finger.

"Yeah, why wouldn't we be?" he asked her.

"My place," Elena said, answering his first question but not the second. "Jeremy's going somewhere with Jenna after he's done with Bonnie, and John's supposed to be meeting with Isobel so he won't be there either."

"Alright, your place it is," Stefan said. "I'll see you."

"Okay, I'll see you later," Elena said, hanging up.

"See, everything's fine," Damon and Caroline said at the same time.

Elena chuckled a bit and rolled her eyes.

"I think my brother has had enough time with Bonnie," Elena said. "Let's go."

o-o-o-o-o

Stefan was in and out of the grocery store quickly. He knew exactly what he needed and didn't make any extra stops. It wouldn't be the biggest deal if everything wasn't ready by the time Elena got back, but he _wanted_ it ready for her when she got back.

When he got to Elena's house, Jenna let him in.

"Kitchen's all yours. If there's any leftovers, save me some," Jenna said with a wink, heading out the door.

Stefan turned on the stove, grabbed a pot and started cutting, grating, chopping and flavouring.

Elena had loved this the last time, in fact she had said 'I think this is the best meal I've ever had in my life. You make this for me again, and I think I just might love you forever.'

Stefan smiled remembering that day. It was early on in their relationship and it was awesome. She had smiled and laughed so many times that night and he had wondered how he got lucky enough to have her. It was a year later and he still wondered how he got lucky enough to have her. It was a year later and he wanted to make sure that he'd still get to keep her. He loved this girl so much. The thought that there could be a day when she wasn't his anymore was too much to even think about. He prayed that a day like that would never come. There'd never be a day when he wasn't hers. He knew this perfectly well. Elena had stolen his heart, and she was going to have it forever. He was never going to stop loving her- it didn't matter what happened.

o-o-o-o-o-

"Okay, so first thing B, what the hell happened with Jeremy last night?" Caroline asked, plopping down on the couch.

"Yeah, I'd like to know that too," Elena said, joining Caroline.

Bonnie sighed. "I guess Jeremy didn't leave as fast as it seemed when Tyler came to talk to me about you," she said, poking Caroline as she squeezed in between her and Elena on the couch. "Tyler was either trying to soften me up so that I'd consider telling him where you were so that he could see you, or he was genuinely being nice- whatever it was, he brought up how he had told me that I was gonna find a good guy-"

"Back when you were both drunk and he popped your cherry," Caroline said, poking Bonnie back.

"So wonderfully put Caroline, thanks so much for that," Bonnie said, rolling her eyes.

Caroline grinned. "No prob, now continue."

Elena shook her head and laughed.

"Anyway he said that and I told him something like 'it's not Bonnie and Tyler nostalgia time'. I dunno. All I know is that apparently Jeremy heard this. Later when I was with Jeremy after I'd left you guys, he was acting weird. He was being an ass for awhile but then he started talking really stupid. He brought up that he heard Tyler reminding me that he had told me that I'd find a good guy. And I was thinking 'yeah, and what the hell's your point? Do you have a problem with someone calling you a good guy?' Then he mentioned Vicki and how he and Tyler had both _had _ her and then- block your ears Elena, I'm sure you don't really want to hear this part," Bonnie said, continuing, "and then he said he wondered if that was the case again, but with me. He wondered if him and Tyler had both been with me- if they _shared _another girl. And he was a little shit-head when he was saying it. He was trying to be a dick and then I smacked him in the face."

"I'm gonna kick his ass," Elena said. "I know that he was freaking out about John, but he was a jerk."

Bonnie finished telling them the rest of the story and that things were okay now, and then she nudged Caroline. "Now tell us what's going on with you- even though I think I have a good idea."

Caroline told them about what had went down between her and Tyler and Matt, and neither of her best friends was very surprised.

"You two don't seem surprised," Caroline said.

"Kinda saw it coming," Elena said, patting Caroline's hand.

"Care, you're totally in a love triangle,' Bonnie said.

"No I'm not," Caroline said pathetically.

"You most definitely are. Two boys want you and you want two boys. That's most definitely a triangle, Care," Elena said.

"I'm an idiot bitch. That's really the only thing I'm sure of at the moment," Caroline said, frowning.

"Shut up. No you're not," Elena and Bonnie both told her.

"Well, that's how I feel. I'd have to be an idiot to want something else along with Matt, and I'd have to be a bitch for that something else to be the guy who may or may not still be his best friend... I love Matt and I want Tyler too. I can't change the way I feel, but I do at least know that what I'm feeling isn't right, and I'm starting to worry that I'm gonna do something stupid," Caroline said, banging her head on the back of the couch.

o-o-o-o-o-o-

"How did you wind up being stuck in here?"Anton asked.

Katherine yawned and didn't answer him.

"I met Isobel earlier," he continued.

Katherine rolled her eyes and remained silent.

"Are she and Elena the only family still alive?' he asked.

Again, Katherine didn't answer. She was just trying to ignore him. The goal was to pretend he wasn't there.

"Elena says Isobel has my eyes."

"Yes, it's quite the unfortunate fact," Katherine said, annoyed that he wasn't taking the hint to just shut the hell up.

"There's a definite resemblance to you, though," Anton added.

Katherine went back to ignoring him.

"When did you become a vampire?"

Katherine threw a rock against the wall.

Anton wanted to know somethingso he just continued to ask questions, his goal being to annoy her so much that when he threw out the offer to shut up if she answered a question for him that she would accept it.

"What's your story with Stefan?"

"_You_ don't get to ask me about Stefan, so shut up," she said angrily.

There was silence for a moment.

"I have an offer. I promise I won't make another sound tonight if you answer two questions for me," he said.

"Fine," Katherine said, very annoyed, but also quite relieved that he would soon be shutting up. "What are the questions?"

"What did our daughter look like?" he asked.

"_My _daughter- she looked like me," Katherine said, hoping that he'd move on to his next question soon.

"So she was beautiful, then," Anton said.

"Very," Katherine said, sighing. "Hurry up and ask your next question."

"The people your father gave her to- were they good parents to her?"

Katherine took a deep breath and tried to keep herself in control. "The woman was a _bitch _who was lucky that Elijah and Klaus killed her before I had the chance to meet her. The man was apparently a good guy."

"Thank you for answering," he said.

"Screw you," Katherine mumbled, closing her eyes.


	43. Chapter 43

o-0-o-0-o This is kind of late and I'm really sorry. The computer didn't screw up this week but I accidentally deleted the chapter by mistake so I had to re-write it. Here's the new chapter. Thanks to laugh4life, David Fshwick, Raya, celia and Anna-Lisa for reviewing. Hope everyone will enjoy it. Let me know what you think by leaving a review. I love reviews o-0-o-0-o

Elena walked to her house after she and Caroline and Bonnie had finished up their girly chat session.

She had a lot of things on her mind, as was the norm for her lately. At the top of the list of all those things were Stefan and Damon, and Elena didn't know what to do about either.

She was pretty sure that as soon as she walked into her house and saw Stefan, he was going to do something to make her heart melt and make her forget that she was really uncomfortable with him going to see Katherine so often, and not to mention how fast he had been _rushing _there recently.

This 'I love you' thing with Damon was making her a little bit insane too. She wanted to confront him about it, but part of her was afraid to. She wanted to leave it alone, but a big part of her couldn't. Her friends would probably tell her that she was an idiot for finding it so shocking that Damon had said that he loved her, but Elena legitimately was.

Elena opened her front door and walked inside. "Stefan?" she called out.

"I'm in here," he said from the kitchen.

"Hey mister," Elena said.

"You couldn't have taken two minutes longer to get here?" Stefan asked with a laugh. "I could have had this completely done and on the table for you.

Elena grinned as she walked over. "Ooooh yummy! You made my favourite," Elena said, seeing Stefan fill up two plates with food.

"I do believe that you're supposed to love me forever now," Stefan joked.

"That's right, I'm pretty sure I did say that if you made this for me again that I'd love you forever," Elena said with a smile. "But apparently I didn't actually have to taste this again for that to happen- I'm kind of already in the business of loving you forever," Elena said, chuckling.

"Feeling's mutual," Stefan said, placing a kiss on Elena's forehead.

Elena picked up one of the plates, but Stefan stopped her.

"No, no, no. Go sit down," Stefan said. "You're being served tonight- no carrying plates for you."

"Okay, okay," Elena said with a grin, going to sit in the dining area as Stefan followed her with the plates of food.

"Absolutely not Isobel! When it's my time, it's my time, and that's it," John said, entering the house and shutting the door behind him.

"This conversation isn't over John," Isobel said from outside the door.

"Yes it is Isobel. You're out there and I'm in here," John said.

Stefan and Elena looked at each other. John and Isobel weren't supposed here.

"And now we're _both_ in here," Isobel said, opening the door and walking inside.

"What the hell?" John said, shocked. "How did you get in here? You haven't been invited in."

"Not recently, but that's not necessary. The point is I _ have _ been invited. Anyway, back to the topic at hand."

Elena's jaw had dropped. Isobel was in her house.

"There's nothing left to say, Isobel. When it's time, you'll say goodbye to me and that's it."

"Don't be stupid, John. There doesn't actually have to be any goodbyes."

"Yes there does Isobel, because I will never allow myself to become what you are. Death is natural and I'm not going to run from it."

Elena closed her eyes and shook her head. She didn't like the direction she thought the conversation was going.

"I'm not going to let some damn disease kill you, you idiot!" Isobel yelled.

Elena bit her lip and tears started to roll down her face. John was still sick.

Stefan was about to say something to try to comfort Elena but she quickly put her finger to her lips, silencing him. Isobel and John still hadn't figured out that anyone else was in the house.

"You haven't shown this much emotion for me in a very long time," John said with a sad chuckle. "Maybe you're starting to care again. You loved me once upon a time."

"I'm not here to take a trip down memory lane, John," Isobel said uncomfortably.

"You shouldn't have come, Isobel."

"Don't be selfish, John. Who the hell's gonna look out for Elena if you're dead, huh?" Isobel asked.

"_You. _You're her mother. Why don't you start acting like it?" John said, frustrated.

"Don't go there with me, John," Isobel said, clenching her fist. "You promised me that you would make sure she would be taken care of. That's _your _job."

"We're not sixteen-years-old anymore, Isobel," John told her.

"I don't care," she answered back. "I gave birth to her, and then you're family got to have her because you and me were too young. I gave your family my kid and you swore to me that you'd make sure she had the best of everything, that she'd never have to worry about anything. You need to be here now to watch out for her from close-by while I do it from afar."

"Why didn't you ever try to see her before? I've wondered that for a long time," John said.

"You're a little bit stupid, my friend," Isobel said, rolling her eyes. "Your brother and his wife got her- _you'd_ still be her family by extension. What would I be? It was never gonna be 'mommy' cuz Miranda and Grayson were gonna be her parents. Even if I stayed around, what would it have ever been? Would I be the cool neighbour?"

"Would that have been so bad?" John asked.

"Yes... At sixteen, I wouldn't have been able to take care of her, I knew that back then. I knew I couldn't keep her, but that didn't mean that I didn't love her or want her. I wasn't going to be able to handle hearing my kid call someone else 'mommy'. I couldn't be around... It's eighteen years later, John and I'm a bitchy vampire now. I can't play mommy to Elena- that time has _long_ gone by. All I can do is be in the background and protect her if she ever needs it. She hates me and it's probably the best thing because I don't know how to do the sweet-and-close thing anymore- I haven't in years. I don't do well with emotion... Stop being selfish," Isobel said, leaving.

"Don't be like that," John said, following her out.

Stefan didn't bother asking if Elena was okay, he knew she wasn't. He wrapped his arms around Elena and whispered "Just breathe."

o-o-o-o-o-o

"Elena's understandable, but you and Barbie- I'm surprised you two didn't notice me slide in here when you started your girly chat."

Bonnie clutched her chest. "What the hell?" she yelled.

"Hi Bon-Bon," Damon said with a grin.

"You were _not_ here while we were talking," Bonnie said, rolling her eyes at him.

"Then how would I know that Barbie's all torn over Mutt and well, the other mutt Lockwood?" Damon asked, amused.

"That's not all that difficult to figure out right now," Bonnie answered.

"Okay, then how would I know that Tyler was the first boy to get some of the Bon-ster?" Damon asked, trying not to grin.

Bonnie's jaw dropped.

"I think Caroline's exact words involved a cherry-"

"Okay, _shut up," _Bonnie demanded. "I got the point, you were here. Creepy bastard. What do you want?"

"I've come to start collecting my payment, Miss Bennett," Damon said with a grin.

Bonnie made a face.

"So I've been thinking about what I'd want in return for being your very own blood donor."

"I'm so excited," Bonnie said sarcastically.

"Witch blood is probably the tastiest thing ever, and it's been _years _since I had some of that," Damon said, trying to get a rise out of Bonnie.

"Don't go there, Salvatore," Bonnie said angrily.

"Chill out witchy," Damon chuckled. "It's fun to piss you off."

"Okay Damon, what is it? What do you want?" Bonnie asked, sitting down.

"You're gonna come on a mini road trip with me, Judgey."

Bonnie raised her eyebrow. "Really?" she said.

"I owe someone a favour, and I need some company while I'm there. Chop-chop, Judgey. Let's go. We'll be back in time to do a round of your new favourite activity- Bonnie-Almost-Dies."

"Where are we going?" Bonnie asked, heading upstairs to her room so that she could change into some clothes.

"Mortontown," Damon said. "Small, boring-ass town."

"Where the hell is that?" Bonnie asked from upstairs.

"It's about an hour-and-a-half away."

"Let's get this over with," Bonnie said, when she came back down the stairs. "Your car better be here, cuz I'm not in the mood to walk to your house to get it."

"It's not here, but you don't need to walk," Damon said with a grin.

"No, no, no Damon. I feel sick as it is. I don't need vampire-speed motion sickness to add to it right now."

Bonnie's objections were ignored, and both she and Damon were in front of the Salvatore mansion in seconds.

"Jerk," Bonnie mumbled. "Stefan's _much _better at that than you."

Damon just laughed and opened up the car door. "Get in, Bennett."

"So why am I coming with you, again?" Bonnie asked.

"Because I've been helping you, and know it's your turn to return the favour," Damon said, turning the key to start the car.

"What kind of favour do you owe, and to who?" Bonnie asked.

"Just a small favour to some kid."

"You owe a favour to a kid?" Bonnie asked in amusement. "This might be interesting after all."

o-o-o-o-o-o

"_Thank you so much."_

"_Are you okay? Are you hurt?" Katherine asked._

"_No, I'm fine. Thanks to you."_

"_I think you were doing alright with that idiot. I think I saw you get some kicks in there."_

_The young woman smiled at Katherine. _

"_What was he trying to take from you?" Katherine asked, not taking her eyes off the girl._

"_This, I think," the young woman said, holding up her hand, showing Katherine a ring, a very beautiful ring._

"_That's lovely," Katherine complimented. "Recently engaged, I take it?"_

_The girl nodded happily. "Just two days ago."_

"_Congratulations," Katherine told her._

"_Thank you."_

"_Where are you headed? Would you like some company on the way back? Two is better than one for keeping greedy brutes away."_

"_I'd love the company, thank you, even though I'm just walking a short distance more. It's just another fifteen minutes down that way," the young woman said. _

"_I'll join you," Katherine said. _

"_Are you from around here?" the girl asked._

"_I'm not from this town," Katherine said, walking with the girl down the hill. _

"_You seem very familiar," the young woman said to Katherine when they got to the girl's village._

_Katherine just smiled and took off the necklace she was wearing. "Take this. Consider it a wedding gift."_

"_I couldn't take that from you. It's too kind of you. It's a beautiful thing."_

"_A beautiful thing for a beautiful girl. Take it, I insist," Katherine said._

"_You're so kind for someone who doesn't even know me."_

"_Look at me," Katherine said, and the girl did._

"_Two minutes from now you will forget seeing me today and you will forget this conversation. I may not know you, but I _also _ know you in a way that no one else ever can. There's a reason that I feel familiar to you."_

"_What's that reason?" the girl asked. _

"_Do me a favour," Katherine said. "Take the necklace. Keep it until you have children, and when you do, if you have a daughter, pass it along to her when she's older, and tell her to do the same. It was my grandmother's, then my mother's, then mine and now I'm giving it to you. Take care of it. It's a family thing," Katherine said, taking a deep breath._

_The girl looked confused. "Take care," Katherine said, giving the girl a smile, walking away. _

"_Wait," the girl called out. _

_Katherine sped up and vanished._

_Katherine went back up the hill, and searched for the idiot who had been attacking the girl._

_It didn't take long to find the man. It was only a matter of seconds before Katherine tore his throat out._

"_You really shouldn't have touched my kid," she spat, walking away._

"Why are they after you?"

That was the end of the memory. Katherine opened her eyes.

"I do believe that you promised to keep your mouth shut until morning," Katherine said, sending a dirty look Anton's way.

"I did," he said. "And I kept my word. It's morning now," he said, flashing the time on his cell phone at her.

Katherine rolled her eyes.

"Answer some more questions for me, and I'll shut up until tomorrow."

"Fine," Katherine said. "Start asking. The sooner you ask, the sooner I answer and the sooner you shut up."

"Why are the Originals after you?"

"Now, it's for revenge, but originally, over 500 years ago, it was because they needed me to be their human sacrifice to break a stupid curse. Next question."

"Did she live a long life?" he asked.

Katherine knew he was asking about their daughter. "She lived until she was 70 years old."

"What is Elena? How is she related? How many generations have gone by?"

She's my daughter's, daughter's, daughter's, daughter's, daughter's, daughter's, daughter's, daughter's, daughter's, daughter's, daughter's, daughter's, daughter's, daughter's, daughter's, daughter's, daughter's, daughter's, daughter's, daughter's, daughter's, daughter's, daughter's, daughter's, daughter's daughter's daughter," Katherine said. "Move to your last question."

"How do I get you to not hate me anymore? And don't tell me to go die because I can't do that until the guys who are after you are dealt with."

Katherine remained quiet for a moment before finally answering. "Honestly, I don't know."

o-o-o-o-o-o-o

When Elena opened her eyes, the first thing she saw was the time. 7:30 am.

"You're up," Stefan said.

"You're still here. You stayed through the night. Thanks," Elena said, relieved.

"Of course I did," Stefan said.

The night had come and gone with tears and silence, and comforting and then finally sleep. Morning was here now and Elena wasn't really ready to face the day. She definitely wasn't going to be going to school.

"So maybe Isobel isn't as big a bitch as I always thought and John's not better. He didn't recover from whatever the hell he had. He really is dying," Elena said, taking a deep breath.

"Are you gonna tell him that you know?" Stefan asked her, running his fingers through her hair.

"I don't know," Elena sighed. "I don't know if I can deal with this right now, Stefan. I don't want him to die," she said quietly.

"I know," Stefan said gently. "I'm really sorry, Elena."

"I can't go to school today. Could you call Caroline and Bonnie for me?"

"Sure," Stefan said.

"Thanks," Elena said, getting up. "I'm gonna go take a bath- um, try to clear my head."

"Okay, I'll be here."

"Good," Elena said, squeezing his hand.

Stefan watched her walk away. He felt anger. Couldn't Elena get a break? He was seeing her sad far too often. It wasn't fair. It wasn't right.

Stefan called Caroline, who was clearly nowhere near awake yet to tell her that Elena wasn't going to school. "What's wrong?" she had asked, and Stefan gave her a brief rundown.

"Okay, screw class for me too, then. I'll be over there soon."

Stefan called Bonnie next, but there was no answer. He hung up and tried again. Same thing, no answer. He tried again and there was still no answer. Stefan was starting to get worried.

He dialled her number one more time, and this time she finally answered.

"I'll call you back," Bonnie choked out, hanging up the phone.

Stefan dialled Caroline. "Can you run to Bonnie's and check on her? She really didn't sound good a second ago," Stefan said, not bothering with another greeting. "I have a bad feeling."

Caroline hung up and dashed out of her house.

"She's not home," Caroline said, walking into Elena's house two minutes later.

Caroline tried calling Bonnie's cell this time.

Once again there was no answer.

Stefan tried again. Still no answer.

Caroline tried one more time.

"She'll call you back, Barbie. She can't talk at the moment. I'm trying to fix that," Damon said, hanging up the phone.

"Damon's with Bonnie," Caroline said to Stefan. "Wherever she is, Damon's with her. I'm going to check your house," Caroline said, dashing off.

Stefan's hands were clenched into fists. He was really worried right now.

"Where the fuck is she?" Caroline hissed, coming back into Elena's house a moment later.

Caroline called Bonnie's phone again, and Stefan called Damon's even though both Bonnie and Damon said that she would call them back.

"Elena's gonna have a nervous breakdown right now if something happened to Bonnie," Stefan said, waiting for Damon to answer.

Bonnie answered for Caroline first.

"I'm okay. We're okay, Care," Bonnie said, taking deep breaths. "We just need to get out of here, okay?"

"Are you sure you're okay?" Caroline asked worriedly.

"Yeah," Bonnie said. "I'm okay now, I promise. We'll be on our way back home really soon. We'll talk when we get there. It'll probably be a couple hours," Bonnie told her friend.

"Okay," Caroline said, feeling relief wash over her. "I'll see you soon."

Damon finally picked up his phone.

"What the hell happened?" Stefan asked his brother.

"We got attacked," Damon said. "Like Bon-Bon just said to Barbie- we'll talk when we get back."

"You and Bonnie got attacked?" Stefan asked, ignoring the last part of what Damon said.

"Yeah, but no worries. It's all good now. Me and witchy make a good team. We took care of the other guys. We'll see you in a couple hours," Damon said, hanging up the phone.

"They got attacked?" Caroline asked, getting a sick feeling.

"Yeah, but apparently they took care of the other guys. Damon said he and Bonnie apparently make a good team."

"What the hell is Bonnie doing with Damon somewhere that's two hours away?" Caroline asked.

"I have no clue," Stefan answered, shrugging. "They'll be here in a couple hours. We'll ask them then."

o-o-o-o-o-o

"Never again, Salvatore. Never again. No more 'road-trips'," Bonnie mumbled, trying to steady her breathing pattern, getting in Damon's car.

"Aww, come on Judgey, that was fun. Admit it," Damon said with a grin, nudging Bonnie. "Plus, you got a new grimoire out of it."

Bonnie's lips turned upwards in a smile. "Getting the grimoire was fun. I'll give you that."

"You're welcome," Damon said with a smirk.

"Yeah, yeah," Bonnie said. "Hurry it up Salvatore. Let's get the hell out of this town."

"Relax witchy, we're driving, see?" Damon said.

"Drive faster. I hate this place," she told him.

"Why, there's so many wonderful memories," Damon said, jokingly.

"Oh yeah, tons," Bonnie said sarcastically.

"Well, Mortontown will always have a special place in _my_ heart."

"And why is that?" Bonnie asked him.

"This is where I tasted the best blood ever," he chuckled.

"If you _ever_ bring that up to anyone, and there's a future occasion where you're in need of my blood to save your life again, I'll let you die instead," Bonnie said, feeling completely awkward.

"My lips are sealed," Damon said, grinning.

"Yeah, they better be,. This will _not _be happening again," Bonnie said seriously.

"Don't be so serious, Judgey. I just gave you a compliment," Damon laughed.

"Oh yeah, I'm completely flattered. You just basically called me yummy food," Bonnie said, rolling her eyes at Damon.

"Not yummy- _yummiest_," Damon corrected.

"Dude, shut up. New topic right now."

"Okay, how about you tell me why you have a bag of Katherine's clothes in your basement and why you've got a duffel bag full of stakes down there too?" Damon asked, turning to face Bonnie.

_Oh shit!_


	44. Chapter 44

o-0-o-0-o Thanks to those who favourited and special thanks to David Fishwick, Raya, celia, Hooked-On-TVD, laugh4life, Sasha R. and Marie for reviewing. Here's the new chapter. Hope you like it. Leave me a review and let me know what you think. And on a completely unrelated note OMG Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part 2 was amazing! o-0-o-0-o

"Oh man! Stop the car," Bonnie said immediately. "I think I'm gonna puke," Bonnie said, trying to avoid answering the question. "Hurry up!"

"You don't get out of answering my questions so easily, Judgey," Damon said with a raised eyebrow.

"Do you want me to puke in your car?" Bonnie said, trying to look sick. "I'll answer your damn question but I need to friggin' get out of this car first!"

Damon studied Bonnie for a moment, and then apparently believing what she was saying, pulled over the car.

"Do me a favour, go in my purse and find me the bottle of Advil," Bonnie said, rushing out of the car, trying to keep him distracted for a minute.

Bonnie ran off a bit into the distance and immediately pulled out her phone and dialled Stefan, while trying to put a shield around herself in case Damon decided to suddenly come over.

"Bonnie, is everything okay?" Stefan said picking up his phone immediately.

"Damon knows I have Katherine's clothes in my basement, and the wood you and me collected, well I didn't wait for you- I started turning them into stakes myself and he found that too. He's asking me about it. What do I do? Should I tell him? Hurry up. I don't know how long he's gonna stay in the car," Bonnie said frantically.

Stefan was very happy that Caroline had stepped outside to take a call from Matt.

"Do you think it's time for us to tell everyone what's going on, besides Elena? I don't think it's a good idea to dump what's really going on on her right now. She had a bad night and doesn't need this to deal with too, and she's still looking at Elijah with rose-coloured glasses" Stefan said.

"We're not telling Elena yet, cuz I agree about her and Elijah. She's too trusting of him, and please tell me that she's okay because honestly I might cry if there's another thing that's making her sad. I hate it when she's not happy. I don't know if we should tell Care yet either cuz she's dealing with a lot of shit too. We might be able to convince her to keep acting normal, but it's not fair to dump that on her right now because she's not thinking straight. But maybe we can tell Damon. If I can get it in his head how serious this is and that I won't tell him anything until he swears that he won't freak out and change his behaviour and make Elijah suspicious- maybe I can tell him."

"Do you think you can put off answering him until you get back here?" Stefan asked.

"Nope," Bonnie said.

"Okay, if you have to, and if you can convince him to not freak out and you can't hold off answering until you get here, tell him about Elijah and why we've got the wood," Stefan said, rubbing his head. "But-"

"But not about getting Katherine out, right?" Bonnie said, taking a deep breath.

"Yeah," Stefan said, keeping an eye on the door to make sure Caroline was still outside.

"I'm with you on that. I'm not taking any chances with that one. I don't want to say anything about Katherine yet either. Okay, he's getting out of the car. I gotta go. I'll make up some excuse about the clothes and see if I can get away with some stupid excuses for the stakes. Bye," Bonnie said, quickly shoving her phone into her pocket.

Bonnie turned around, clutching her stomach. She removed the little shield she had put up and started to walk back to the car.

"You okay Bon-Bon?"

"Please tell me that you have a bottle of water or something in this car so I can rinse my mouth out," she said.

"I have mouth-wash," Damon said pathetically.

"That's a bit weird," Bonnie said. "But whatever, pass it over," Bonnie said, standing outside of the car.

Damon opened the trunk and passed Bonnie the mouth-wash.

"Let me guess, you keep it in the car so that after you're done snacking on some girl- you won't have 'blood-breath'?" Bonnie asked sarcastically, as she rinsed with some mouthwash.

Damon just shrugged and smirked.

Bonnie gave him a dirty look when she was done rinsing her mouth and handed the bottle back to him.

"Did you find my Advil?" she asked.

"Nope, it's like a jungle in your purse... Anyway, okay Bennett, start talking. I'm not letting you get out of this one. Start with Katherine's clothes," he said, getting back into the car at the same time as Bonnie.

"Why were you snooping around in my basement? And those aren't Katherine's clothes," Bonnie said, pathetically trying to avoid having to answer the question. She knew it wasn't going to work.

"Those are definitely Katherine's clothes. Don't avoid my questions. Answer me," Damon said, rolling his eyes, starting to drive again.

Bonnie took a deep breath and started to speak. "Fine. Yeah, I have some of Katherine's clothes in my basement."

"Why, Judgey?"

"Because it would be kind of weird if they were at your place. I knew that Stefan brought some stuff to Katherine in the tomb, but there was a bunch of stuff left over at the place she was staying. When I found out that Stefan had brought Katherine some stuff I told him to leave her extra bag of clothes at my place because I didn't want you to give Stefan a hard time, and I didn't want Elena to somehow come across it at your place and start getting suspicious or upset with Stefan, which she totally would, and she'd have every right to be," Bonnie said, somewhat truthfully, taking a deep breath. "Happy now, nosy-ass?"

Damon just grinned. "Okay, now what about the stakes?"

"They're there in case I ever need them. You might have forgotten, but we live in Mystic Falls," Bonnie said, trying very hard to sound convincing.

Damon took his eyes off the road and eyed Bonnie very carefully.

"You're good, Bon-Bon. You don't look like you're lying at all, but I know you are."

"I'm not lying," Bonnie insisted.

"Considering everything that you and me have been through- from me nearly tearing out your throat when Emily was in control, to you trying to kill me- it's crazy, but I _know _that you trust me right now. You do trust me, so I'm wondering why the hell you're _not_ trusting me enough to tell me the truth about whatever's going on. I'm not stupid, Judgey, those stakes in your basement have something to do with you wanting to get stronger too, don't they?"

"You don't know that I trust you," Bonnie said stubbornly. "Stop speculating on what I'm doing Damon, just leave things alone."

"Oh Witchy, you most _definitely_ do trust me, honey. You've been putting your life in my hands a lot lately, sometimes multiple times daily, so don't give me that crap. You've been trusting that I'll give you my blood to bring you back when you push yourself to the brink of death. You trust me with your life, so what the hell else is there that could be more important than that to you, what is there that could mean more than your life that you won't trust me?"

Bonnie turned away from Damon and looked out the window.

"There's nothing going on, Damon," Bonnie said quietly, feeling a tiny bit bad.

"Bullshit, Bennett. Stop lying. Look at me,"

"Watch the road," Bonnie said, biting her lip, not looking at him.

"Elena!" Damon said suddenly, pulling over to the side of the road.

Bonnie looked at him this time, but kept her mouth shut.

"It's Elena or Caroline. It has something to do with one of them, I'm guessing Elena because she's a magnet for trouble. You trust me with your life, but won't trust me to tell me what's going on, which means someone else has to be involved, and that someone is either Barbie or Elena."

"You don't know that," Bonnie said, sure that she'd really have to tell him soon, and pretty sure that she wasn't going to regret it if she did. Damon was not going to mess this up. She was pretty sure of that now.

"I _do _know that. I should have figured this out earlier, after all- I've seen you three weirdos and how much you love each other. You'd die for each other. All three of you value each other's life more than her own," Damon said as Bonnie bit her lip again.

There was a change in Bonnie's expression, it got sadder and softer. "We're family," Bonnie said quietly.

"You don't have to protect them from me," Damon said, grabbing Bonnie's arm as she tried to get out of the car. "I'll help you. I _want _to help you if they're in danger. I'll tear some throats out if they've got people after them. You can trust me with their lives too, Judgey. I wouldn't let anything happen to either of them, _especially_ Elena. If you're working on something to help them, tell me and let me help."

Bonnie looked down at Damon's hand on her arm. "I'm not gonna run away. You can let go now, Damon. I just need a minute," Bonnie said, blinking her eyes, trying to hold off her tears.

Damon let go of her, and Bonnie stepped out of the car for a minute. She leaned against the door and allowed her tears to flow freely for a moment. She wasn't quite sure why, but sometimes when she heard about herself and Elena and Caroline or when she thought about their friendship on her own, she would get emotional. She loved them like crazy and she would most definitely die for them, and they would do the same for her. Damon was absolutely right.

The thought of something happening to them was unbearable, and she'd do anything to keep them safe.

This plan that she and Stefan and Katherine had was a good one and Bonnie didn't doubt that everything was going to work out in the end. She knew that it was going to work out as long as no one screwed things up, but Damon bringing up she and Elena and Caroline dying for each other put images of a dead Elena- at Elijah and Klaus' hands- into her head and it scared her and it brought tears to her eyes and that's why she needed to get out of the car.

If you wanted to get to Bonnie, if you wanted to touch her heart- Elena and Caroline were key to that.

Bonnie tried to get the image of Elena lying dead on the ground out of her head and she didn't notice that Damon got out of the car and was now standing in front of her. The tears kept falling, so she had to wipe them away herself.

When Bonnie looked up, she was surprised to see Damon standing in front of her. She wiped at her tears a little more furiously now.

Damon didn't say anything. He waited for her to speak.

It was a moment before Bonnie spoke. "You have to do this my way."

"Fine," Damon said.

"I'm serious, Damon. My way or I don't tell you anything."

"Okay," Damon said, nodding.

"You can't act any differently when we get back to Mystic Falls. You can't lose your temper and freak out and go after him, because number 1- he'll kill you and number two, he'll tell the other one and he'll come to town that much sooner and it'll be a bloodbath. "

"Who?" Damon asked her.

"Swear to me, Damon. Swear that you won't act any differently. Swear that you'll go with my plan. Swear that you'll do this my way. If you stick with mine and Stefan's plan, those bastards will be the ones who are dead and we can all laugh over their evil dead bodies. Elena will be safe. We'll all be safe," Bonnie said, looking Damon directly in the eye.

"Okay," Damon said seriously. "I swear I'll do this your way."

"You're my friend, Damon. As crazy as that is, it's true. You're my friend now. I actually like having you around most of the time. And I don't want anything bad to happen to you, but I'm making you a promise right now- if you veer off course, and you do something to make them suspicious- if you do something crazy and they come after us before we're ready for them, and Elena dies- I'll take you out. I will kill you, and I'm _not _ kidding. I'm not gonna let anything happen to her," Bonnie said, heart beating very fast.

"I got it," Damon said.

"Okay," Bonnie said, nodding her head and wiping her eyes some more.

"I just had my life threatened, yet I'm not at all offended or pissed off at you. Weird," Damon said, grinning, aiming to get a laugh out of Bonnie.

And he did.

"That would be because I called you my friend in that same little rant. You're so flattered and honoured by that, that the other part didn't matter," Bonnie said, grinning back.

Damon rolled his eyes and Bonnie laughed again as they got back into the car.

"Okay," Bonnie said taking a deep breath. "Elijah's working with Klaus and the plan is still definitely for Elena to die, and for them to kill the rest of us too, but we're gonna kill them first."

"And how are we gonna do that, Judgey? Those bastards are apparently un-killable," Damon said.

"Those stakes in my basement, they're not made from just any wood. White-ash wood can kill an Original. Those stakes are made from the wood of a white-ash tree. Stab them with that and they're dead."

"I like the sound of that. Keep talking Bon-Bon."

o-o-o-o-o-o

Elena had filled the bathtub up nearly to the top with hot water. She rested her head against the side of the tub, as the hot water acted as a blanket for her as she almost completely immersed herself in it. She felt cold, and sad, and confused.

The man who she had thought was her uncle, who actually turned out to be her father was dying. He had some sort of disease and apparently it was going to kill him.

For a big chunk of her life Elena could remember not liking the man very much. She didn't start to hate him until he started to cause trouble last year, but most of her memories consisted of her not liking him very much. They were not close when she started to grow up, but that was probably more her fault than his.

Some of the earliest memories Elena had were of John, back in a time when she adored him. When she was a young kid, she thought John was awesome. They had a lot of fun together and she had loved being around him. And then he went and disappeared from her life for more than a year, and when he showed up again, he was different. All she really remembered now was that when he showed back up after being gone for more than a year, she thought he became a lot meaner. She thought he wasn't a nice man anymore, and she hated that he hardly smiled anymore.

From the time Elena was seven years old, she'd thought of her uncle/dad as a jerk, and it was his own fault that she did, because that is generally how he continued to act ever since he came back after being gone for over a year. There would be times when he'd try to talk to her, but she hadn't wanted to, not with him being this guy that was a jerk to her Aunt Jenna or who always had some sort of criticism ready for pretty much anyone. She would sit and give him short and very basic answers and she'd eagerly await him leaving again.

Elena had honestly sort of forgotten that there had been a point, a point early on in her life, but a point nonetheless, that she had adored the man. All she had remembered was the bad, and how much of a jerk he was, because that's what he had been for so long, but right now, with the knowledge that he really was sick, memories from when she was five and younger came back to her. Memories of a time when she had loved John very much.

With these memories, these sweet memories in her head, she couldn't help but become angry at John again. Why the hell did he have to ruin something that was wonderful? And why the hell did he have to be dying when he finally started to be less of a jackass?

Isobel's words kept flowing through Elena's head. When she was talking to John, she didn't really sound like the bitch Elena had thought she was, and the bitch she acted like. It had sounded like genuine emotion in her voice when she was speaking to John.

Elena almost felt bad for Isobel, she would all out feel horrible for Isobel if it was any other woman- but Isobel was Isobel. Maybe the bitchiness was an act, and maybe she really didn't know how to do the sweet and nice thing anymore, but that didn't justify her being an outright bitch-monster to her own kid and people that Elena cared about.

Elena tried to push thoughts of the people who had turned out to be her parents out of her head, but it didn't really work.

Elena was crying again. She banged her head against the edge of the bathtub in frustration. She hated that she had being crying so much lately.

Nothing was easy.

Peace and calm only ever lasted for a little while, lately. Something negative or bad was always around the corner, it seemed.

If Elena couldn't get John or Isobel out of her head, she was going to try to at least make the things she thought about be the good things she remembered of John. She didn't want to feel anger towards him when he was dying. She didn't want to cry for a man she didn't like all that much right now. If she couldn't stop her tears, which she couldn't, she at least wanted them to be for a man she had loved. She replayed the piggy-back rides, games of tag and hide-and-seek in her head over and over again, trying to make those the only memories she had of him.

o-o-o-o-o-o-o

Katherine was absentmindedly tracing patterns into the dusty ground with a stick when she heard someone start to enter the tomb.

She didn't know how she knew exactly, but she did. She knew it was Elijah who was coming down.

She sped to the back of the tomb where Anton was hidden from view and put her finger to her lips.

She silently mouthed to him not to say a word before going back to the front.

"Oh Katerina, lovely. I've missed seeing your face these past days," Elijah said, laughing.

"Well, I haven't missed seeing yours," she answered.

"I've been hearing some interesting things recently," Elijah said.

"Like what?" Katherine asked, rolling her eyes.

"Apparently someone's been asking a lot of questions about you lately. I know vampires all over the place. I know vampires in every state of this country. Someone's been roaming around asking if anyone had a clue as to where you were. He seemed pretty desperate to find you. Seemed to be very worried for your safety. Who is this person?"

"How the hell am I supposed to know, genius? I'm locked in this hole in the ground, in case you've forgotten," she told him.

"For the idiot's own sake, he should really hope he doesn't find out that you're here in Mystic Falls. It sounds like he's a guy who's ready to try to be your hero- to protect you. If this person ever meant anything to you, you should really hope he doesn't show up, because anyone who will try to help you is going to get eliminated quicker than they can blink. When the time for the sacrifice comes- you're dead, and no one is going to ruin that. I'll be keeping an eye out for any strangers that may come to town. I just wanted you to know that someone wants to help you and that he's never going to have the chance to," Elijah said with a sick chuckle.

Katherine looked at him with disgust.

"And now, as usual, my lovely little snake, you will forget this conversation."

Elijah didn't stay long at all. He'd come to get his little enjoyment for the morning.

"Stupid dumbass, I remember it all. Your compulsion doesn't do crap to me."

"He's talking about me," Anton said from the back.

"I know. It was pretty obvious. You should have just stayed the hell away from me. You're lucky that he's been out of town and that he's never seen you. He meant it, you know. He really will try to kill you if he finds out you're here and that you wanted to help me," Katherine said, yawning.

"You really don't get it, do you?" Anton said, sighing. "I'm not at all afraid of dying. Let him come after me, I don't care. I came here for you. I came to help you, and that's what I'm going to do. That bastard and the others who are after you are going to die and as long as I can make sure that happens, I don't mind dying alongside them."

"I don't want or need your help, and I don't particularly care what happens to you. Don't risk your life for me, Anton. It's not gonna change anything. It's not going to re-write history. It's not gonna make me forgive and forget," Katherine said in a normal tone, mostly just tired and fed-up.

"I know that," he said..

"You really are an idiot then, Anton," she told him.

"No, I'm just a guy who's still in love with you," he said quietly.

"We had a deal- I answer your questions and you shut up for the rest of the day, remember?" Katherine reminded him, not wanting to hear him anymore.

"Not another word from me, don't worry. I'm shutting up," he said.

"Good," Katherine said, leaning her head back against the wall.


	45. Chapter 45

o-0-o-0-o Sorry for the late chapter, but I had a bit of a family emergency going on for the past few days. Thanks to David Fishwick, Marie, celia, Raya, Sasha and Anna-Lisa for reviewing last chapter. Hope everyone will enjoy this new chapter. Let me know what you think. Reviews motivate me to write quicker o-0-o-0-o

Caroline was back outside again, talking to some person who was on some sort of school committee with her. Apparently everything wasn't running so smoothly.

It had been awhile since Elena went up to take a bath- Stefan decided to check on her.

"You okay in there?" he asked, opening the door to the bathroom.

Elena was getting out of the tub, wiping her eyes. She gave Stefan a small smile.

"You wanna grab a towel for me? I forgot to bring one in here," Elena said, taking a deep breath.

Stefan grabbed the towel and was back before Elena could blink.

"You feeling any better?" he asked her, wrapping the towel around her.

"Not really," she admitted.

"I know this is really hard for you," Stefan said, rubbing Elena's shoulder.

Elena nodded. "There's nothing I can do, though."

"Have you decided if you're gonna talk to John about this?" Stefan asked her, walking out with her to her room.

"Honestly, I keep going back and forth between deciding on telling him that I know and just keeping my mouth shut. I think I'm just gonna decide all of the sudden when I see him. If I blurt out I know, that's what'll happen. Maybe I'll just keep my mouth shut."

Stefan looked at Elena for a moment and sighed.

"What?" Elena asked, slipping a shirt over her head.

"What can I do for you right now?" he asked her.

Elena walked over to him after putting on a pair of comfy pants.

"Don't worry about me," she said, placing a kiss on his cheek.

"You wanna go back to the cabin?" Stefan asked her, leaning down, touching his head to hers.

Elena bit her lip and smiled. "I would _love _to go back to the cabin, Stefan."

"When do you want to go?" he asked her.

Elena shook her head. "I'd love to go, but I'd just be running away from my problems. I've got to deal with all this stuff, even though I don't want to- even though I'm not sure how to do that yet."

"Well, if you change your mind- let me know and I'll have us back at the cabin before you know it."

"Thanks," Elena said, giving Stefan's hand a gentle squeeze. "Did you call Caroline and Bonnie for me?"

"Yeah. Caroline's here actually. She just went outside and took a call from someone. And Bonnie will be by in an hour or two."

"Let's go back down then," Elena said.

Caroline walked back into the house as Elena got down from the last step.

"Hey," Caroline said, coming over to give Elena a big hug.

"Thanks for coming. You didn't have to skip school for me, though," Elena said, returning the hug.

"School skippage was definitely required today," Caroline answered.

Elena smiled and sat down on the couch. Caroline plopped down next to her.

"So you had a really shitty night, huh?" Caroline said gently, looking at Elena.

Elena nodded. "Started off great. Stefan made me yummy food," she said to Caroline, throwing a smile to Stefan.

"Nice," Caroline grinned.

"You didn't throw it away right, Stefan? I wanna heat it up later. I'm not letting all that deliciousness go to waste," Elena said.

"It's in your fridge. You can have it whenever you want," Stefan told her.

"I think you're gonna have to share some with me E," Caroline said. "I wanna see what this stuff tastes like."

"I'll try to share," Elena said with a small laugh.

"Talk to me girlie," Caroline said. "You learned some big stuff last night. What's going on in your head, babe?"

"Lots, and nothing at the same time," Elena sighed.

As Elena and Caroline continued talking, Stefan pulled out his phone and sent a message to Bonnie and Damon. He wanted to give them a heads-up about Elena finding out that John was still sick, that he was dying.

o-o-o-o-o-o

"_Hi Elena," Bonnie and Caroline said, waving at their friend._

"_Hi guys," Elena said sadly._

"_Are you okay?" Bonnie asked. "You look sad."_

"_Uncle John came back today," Elena said, looking down at her hands._

"_That's good," Caroline said, smiling. "How come you look sad, then?"_

"_He's acting different. He's not nice anymore. He hardly smiled. He didn't give me a piggy-back ride or anything. He didn't even give me a hug," Elena said, biting her lip, trying not to cry._

"_He was mean?" Bonnie asked._

_Elena was still looking down at her hands. "He didn't say anything bad really, but he just wasn't nice. Do you know what I mean? I don't think he loves me anymore," she said, unable to keep away her tears._

"_Don't cry Elena," Caroline said. "If he doesn't love you anymore, he's just a big dumb grown-up. Don't be sad, at least me and Bonnie still love you."_

_Elena finally looked up, and she smiled._

"_We're best friends," Bonnie said. "We're going to love you forever."_

"_Promise?" Elena asked._

"_Promise," Bonnie and Caroline said at the same time, both linking pinky fingers with Elena. "Pinky swear."_

"Earth to Bon-Bon, where'd you go?" Damon asked, bringing Bonnie back to present time. She was remembering the day between ten and eleven years earlier that John Gilbert started to lose his spot on Elena's list of favourite people.

"I was just remembering something," Bonnie said, sighing, leaning her head back against the headrest in the passenger's seat of Damon's car.

She and Damon both just received a text message from Stefan saying that John was dying and that was why Elena was so down.

Bonnie bit her lip in sympathy for her best friend. This must be really hard for Elena. It had been so long that Elena hadn't gotten along with John, but knowing that he was sick must be killing her, especially if she was remembering old times. Bonnie remembered when they were younger how much Elena had loved him- how much Caroline and herself really liked the man too. He was fun and nice, but then he had changed, and it had hurt Elena a lot.

"What are you remembering?" he asked, stepping on the gas as the traffic light turned green again.

"Kid stuff," she said, smiling sadly.

"Elena, you, and Barbie kid stuff?" Damon asked, cutting ahead of the car in front of him.

"Yeah," Bonnie admitted.

"Was John always a douche-bag?" Damon asked, sending a grin to the guy who was giving him the middle finger for cutting him off.

"No actually," Bonnie said. "Elena adored him when we were younger. Me and Caroline thought he was awesome too, back then. Then he just changed. He really let her down. She used to love him a lot."

"And now he's gonna drop dead- who knows when," Damon said. "I don't care about the guy, but this is gonna eat away at Elena- _that_, I don't like. She doesn't need this shit right now."

"No, she doesn't- not at all," Bonnie said, closing her eyes. "She's tougher than any of us really give her credit for. She _is _tough. The girl can handle a lot- I just really hate that she _has _ to handle a lot, you know? Sometimes I wish I could just put this protective bubble around her, to repel all the bad things that come her way."

"If you figure out a spell for that Judgey, let me know. I'll help you out. I'm all about keeping the bad away from Elena."

"I know," Bonnie said with a bit of a grin. "That's what kept you from getting yourself set on fire when I couldn't stand you."

Damon rolled his eyes.

"You think she's gonna be okay?" Damon asked, seriously.

"She'll deal, but this is gonna hurt her, I know it. She's gonna remember back to when she loved him like crazy and she's gonna resent that for so long he was a jackass even more than she had resented him for it before. She's gonna be sad, and scared and confused. I think she'll forgive him. She's not gonna want to hate him soon, if she hasn't already gotten to that point. I think she's gonna try to just spend time with him and forget the bad stuff. I don't like John anymore, but I really hope she does forgive him, just so she can try to enjoy some time with him. I just want her to be happy."

"I'm with you on that," he replied.

"Anyway," Bonnie said, changing back the subject. "There's a huge chance that you might come across Elijah at some point again in Mystic Falls. I _know _you don't want to do anything to put Elena in danger- just remember to fake it around him if you see him. That's what me and Stefan have had to do. Stefan fantasizes about ripping him apart, but we just fake calmness. It's not easy, but we can't let him know that we know what he's really up to. We can't give him any indication that we've got a plan to kill him and Klaus. Remember, be fake, be calm."

Damon snorted. "Be fake, be calm. That's the new mantra."

"Yep," Bonnie said.

o-o-o-o-o-o-

A stake through the right shoulder, one through the left. One into the right side of the neck, one into the left. A stake to the heart, but not right through, not right away at least- poking at the heart at first. One into the right side of the stomach and then one into the left side. A stake into the top part of both legs, a stake into the bottom part of both legs. A stake into the right foot, and one into the left. There would be screams of agony and pleading coming from Elijah and Klaus.

That's what was going to happen when the time came, and Katherine absolutely could not wait to make it happen.

She was going to make them pay, and she was going to drag the pain out as long as possible. She was going to get rid of them once and for all. There would be no more looking over her shoulder. She'd be completely free at last.

She'd never have to run again. She could stay put if she wanted to. She just couldn't wait until this was all over.

She'd stick around Mystic Falls. She wanted to spend time with Stefan. She wanted Stefan back, and she'd try for that. If it didn't happen, she was at least going to have some time with him, she'd make sure of that. She'd been waiting over a century for that.

Anton would leave. Katherine really believed that. He swore he'd leave if that's what she wanted after Klaus and Elijah were out of the picture, and she still wanted him to go.

Every passing moment being stuck in this tomb was getting to Katherine. She needed to get out of here. She couldn't stand being locked up in this underground prison any longer. She seriously hoped that Bonnie would be up for getting her out soon.

Sometimes she felt as if she'd rip her own hair out if she didn't get out of this place quickly. She wanted to feel wind against her face again. She wanted to see something other than cave walls.

She kept telling herself that she'd be out of this place soon. Bonnie was a Bennett. If her strength was building up like she had wanted- Bonnie would have her out sooner rather than later.

Katherine didn't like the fact that she was having to count on someone who wasn't exactly a fan of hers to get her out, but she knew that the witch would get her out because if it meant keeping Elena safe, Bonnie would do anything.

Bonnie was a lot like Emily in certain ways. She was definitely a very protective person like her ancestor was, and Katherine was thankful for that at this point because it was going to buy her her freedom.

o-o-o-o-o-o-o

Elena put the plate of last night's re-heated dinner deliciousness in front of Caroline, and then started to eat her own portion.

Elena gave Stefan the thumbs-up of approval as she savoured the food. Stefan grinned.

"I feel bad, Stefan. Come on and split this with me," Caroline said. "You made it, you should at least get to have some."

Stefan shook his head. "I'm good. You eat. Have at it."

"Okay fine," Caroline said. "I was just being polite. More for me is better."

Caroline took a bite and loved it. "Dude, this is awesome. Definitely yummy," Caroline commented.

"Glad I haven't lost my touch," Stefan said.

"Oh man, I should probably save some for Bonnie. She's probably hungry, and I doubt that Damon stopped so that she could get some breakfast after their stupid attack this morning," Caroline said.

Elena nearly choked on the bite of food she was swallowing. Luckily she managed to get the food down her throat.

"Bonnie and Damon were attacked? When, what the hell happened? Is everything okay?" Elena asked worriedly, gripping tightly onto the arm of the sofa.

"Oops," Caroline said, cringing. She hadn't meant to mention Bonnie and Damon being attacked.

"They didn't tell us anything really, except that they're okay now. They'll be here soon. They said a couple hours probably. It's been close to that now. We didn't say anything because we didn't want you to worry, and because they'd say what happened when they got here anyway,' Stefan said quickly.

Elena took a deep breath and closed her eyes. When she opened them again, Bonnie and Damon were walking into her house.

"Thank God," Elena said, rushing to hug Bonnie. "Are you two okay?" she asked. "What the hell happened? Caroline said you got attacked."

"Don't worry about us, we're fine. Are you okay, though?" Damon asked, giving Elena's hand a little squeeze as she hugged Bonnie.

"Oh no, no, no. You two explain what the hell happened. There's nothing that we can do for me and my messed up feelings right now, but you can tell me how you came to be attacked and where the hell you guys were," Elena said to Damon.

Damon sent Caroline a very annoyed look.

"We were supposed to be back last night or by like 1 or 2 am at the latest," Bonnie said, seeing that one of her two best friends was not going to give up until she got an answer.

"Back from where?" Elena and Caroline asked at the same time.

"Mortontown," Bonnie said.

"Where the hell is that?" Caroline asked.

"Small town. Boring. About an-hour-and-a-half or two away from here."

"And why were you in Mortontown?" Elena asked.

"This one wanted some company and felt like bugging me. He owed a favour to someone."

"Who?" Elena asked.

"A kid with a major crush on him," Bonnie said with a grin.

"Okay, start talking B, this sounds entertaining," Caroline said, laughing.

Elena grinned and laughed a bit. Bonnie and Damon both looked okay. She knew Bonnie would get to the bad part of the story, but since she was clearly okay, Elena let her friend continue with the amusing part of the story. Elena could use a laugh.

"Little brother," Damon said, eyes on Stefan.

"What's up?" Stefan asked.

Damon motioned towards the kitchen. Stefan nodded. Damon went to the kitchen and Stefan looked at Bonnie, mouthing 'Did you tell him?'

Bonnie nodded slightly as she continued telling her friends what had happened.

Stefan followed Damon into the kitchen.

"So you and Bon-Bon have been keeping quite the secret, I hear. My feelings are a little hurt baby bro."

Stefan rolled his eyes at his brother. "You can't blame me for being extra careful where Elena's life is concerned. In fact, you _don't _blame me. If you were the one who knew and not me, and you didn't know how I'd take the truth, you wouldn't have told me either."

Damon smirked. "True."

Jenna and Jeremy walked into the house, stopping abruptly when they saw Stefan and Damon.

"Damon, give me your keys. I left my purse in your car, and the book too," Bonnie said, walking into the kitchen. "They want to see the grim- Oh hey Jenna. Hey Jer," Bonnie said, a bit awkwardly.

"I know I took Jeremy to that thing at my campus which gives him a free pass from class today, but I'm pretty sure, the rest of you should be in school, minus you," she said, nodding at Damon.

Caroline and Elena walked into the kitchen.

"I was kinda feeling like crap this morning. They're keeping me company," Elena told her aunt.

"Sick crap or emotional crap?" Jenna asked, shaking her head.

"A bit of both," Elena said.

"What's up?" Jenna asked her.

"Don't bring it up to him, but John's sick, like dying sick," Elena said quietly. "I found out last night. I overheard something. He didn't know that me and Stefan were here."

"Oh," Jenna said, taking a breath.

Jeremy looked a little bit uncomfortable, but not surprised.

"You knew he wasn't really okay, didn't you?" Elena asked, turning to her brother.

Jeremy just shrugged. "I told him that he'd have to tell you soon or else I would, but he wanted some time."

"Are you two okay?" Jenna asked, looking at her niece and nephew. "I know you guys don't get along awesomely with him, but he's your family."

"Everything's kinda messed up inside right now," Elena said.

"I've had a bit more time to deal with it, but I'm still trying to wrap my head around it," Jeremy said.

"Come here," Jenna said to Elena and Jeremy, pulling them both into a hug. "I'll get Alaric to give you guys a free pass for today," she said to Elena, Bonnie, Caroline and Stefan. "Jeremy's already got one."

"Thanks," Elena said.

"I'm supposed to go back to campus soon, but I can put it off if you want me to stick around," Jenna said to Elena.

"Don't worry about it," Elena said. "Go to school. It'll be okay."

"Alright, but I want you to call me if you need anything, okay?" Jenna said, running up the stairs to get what she needed before she had to head out again.

"You really okay?" Jeremy asked Elena.

She just shrugged. "I'll deal," she said.

"Here Judgey," Damon said, throwing his car keys over to her.

Bonnie walked out the door and Jeremy followed her.

"Get ready to block your ears," Damon said, rolling his eyes, already knowing that Jeremy was going to start questioning Bonnie on why she had been in his car.

Bonnie unlocked the car door and grabbed her purse as well as the grimoire she had obtained on the trip to Mortontown.

"Damon drove you here?" Jeremy asked.

"Yeah," Bonnie said, walking back to the house.

"How come?' he asked, as they walked back inside.

"Because," Bonnie said, not in the mood to answer his questions right now.

"Did you go somewhere?" he asked, taking in her appearance. "Why are you still in the same clothes as yesterday? Were you with him all night?"

Bonnie wasn't sure if it was that she had been losing patience in general or if it was that Jeremy was just legitimately becoming a little bit annoying with how he questioned virtually everything. She hated feeling like she was being interrogated, and she knew that's the direction the conversation was going to go. She was tired, she didn't have the energy to deal with Jeremy right now.

Bonnie had fallen for Jeremy, she really had. Jeremy had made her really happy. When things were good, they were really good, but when he did something to annoy her, it _really_ annoyed her. Bonnie wondered if that had anything to do with her being a witch. It might be a witch thing, but Bonnie thought that it was probably because she was still angry with Jeremy over his idiocy from the other day. She said she had forgiven him. She thought she had forgiven him, but maybe she hadn't.

Jeremy had been upset and messed up over John, but that didn't make her really any less angry over the implications of what he had said to her.

Bonnie knew that Jeremy probably didn't mean it, but he had basically called her a bit of a tramp when he made the comment about possibly sharing her with Tyler too, and she couldn't quite let that go. She wasn't like that, she wasn't a trampy girl. In all honesty, if she had never touched alcohol, she would probably still be a virgin, yes even though she was with Jeremy.

She never would have slept with Tyler and she wouldn't have slept with Jeremy either. Yes, she and Jeremy were together and she cared about him a lot, but it's not like they'd been together for long. Bonnie's stance on sex had been that she wouldn't sleep with someone until she could actually see herself clearly with this person in more than just the immediate future. Her track record had said otherwise, but that's actually how Bonnie felt about it.

She had told Jeremy that she didn't regret sleeping with him, but she had. It had nothing to do with him, it was all her. He was good to her, but she still wished she hadn't given away that part of herself so quickly because she didn't know what the future would look like for them.

Things with Jeremy in general had happened quickly. It was almost as if they got together out of nowhere. Bonnie bit her lip, thinking about the good things though- kissing him, and how her heart would beat a bit faster when he was being extra sweet, how holding his hand could calm her down, how his smile would make her smile.

Bonnie could forgive her two best friends for just about anything. She had immense patience and understanding where they were concerned, but Bonnie wasn't one to really tolerate very much from others, especially guys.

She had dumped boys for being jealous and clingy and too much into her business, and Bonnie feared that she might do the same with Jeremy in a moment of annoyance, hurting not only Jeremy, but herself and Elena as well. She needed to try to keep the good thoughts in her head instead.

Bonnie frowned, not liking the thoughts that were running through her head. Part of her thought she was crazy for thinking those things, but Bonnie didn't have the time or energy to be dealing with boy-issues when there were much more important things she was involved in, literally issues of life and death.

"Here, take a look," Bonnie said, handing the grimoire to Elena and Caroline, not bothering to answer Jeremy. "I'm gonna grab a shower, if you don't mind, and borrow a pair of pants and a top," she said to Elena. "I feel dirty and yucky after this morning."

"Go ahead," Elena said. "Take what you want."

"Thanks,' Bonnie said, heading upstairs.

"Why was Bonnie in your car?" Jeremy asked Damon.

Damon smirked, bugging Jeremy was one of his favourite things to do. "If Bon-Bon didn't tell you, I'm sure not going to. That's between her and me."

Damon waited to see the look on Jeremy's face. The kid did not look happy. Damon held in his laugh while Stefan and Caroline both rolled their eyes at Damon. Elena just walked back to the living room with the grimoire, shaking her head.

"What's the new grimoire for?" Jeremy asked, trying a new question. "That's not the same one I've seen before."

"Judgey's got more than one grimoire, kid, but that _is _a new one- kind of," Damon said. "I hooked her up with it. It's really old, actually. It's from the Bennett's long before Emily. I knew she'd want it."

"You got her a grimoire, like for a gift? Why?"

"Your girlfriend is a witch. Witches like grimoires, especially ones from their own family. It's rightfully hers anyway," Damon said, rolling his eyes at the kid's obviously jealousy-filled question.

"Oh so you were just dropping it off, and you drove her here," Jeremy said.

"Holy shit, kid, give it a rest," Damon said, moving from amused to slightly annoyed. "If you want to know, your girlfriend can answer you if she wants to. If she didn't tell you anything, I'm not going to either."

"Cool it with the jealousy questions buddy," Caroline said to Jeremy. "Bonnie's not the type of girl who's flattered by jealousy. It annoys her. She doesn't put up with it for too long. She dumped her last boyfriend for being too jealous and nosy about everything she did. I'm rooting for you here, so don't mess things up with her," Caroline said before following Elena into the living room.

"Listen to Barbie," Damon said. "Or else I see your butt getting dumped soon," Damon said, going to the living room too.

"Where'd you go last night?" Stefan asked Jeremy, changing the subject.

"This drawing exhibit thing," Jeremy answered.

"Cool," Stefan said, trying to make conversation.

"I'm acting like an idiot, huh?" Jeremy asked Stefan after a moment.

"Yeah," Stefan admitted.

"I know that the feelings are more intense on my end than on hers," Jeremy said quietly. "That's not new for me, and it's okay because I know that she _does _ care, but it's weird how jealous I can get. It wasn't like that, even with Vicki. I would get jealous, but not like this. I'm hooked on Bonnie and I'm acting like an idiot, being suspicious of pretty much every guy except you. I love her, but I think I'm just going to end up pushing her away, and I'm not _trying _to do that... All I did was ask her a couple questions. What's wrong with that?"

"Bonnie's good at reading people. She could probably tell you were jealous and it annoyed her," Stefan said, taking a guess at what Bonnie might have been thinking. "Also, you know she's kinda friends with Damon now, so it probably annoyed her that you were asking when you know that... Anyway, this is between the two of you," Stefan said, ending the conversation there.

"Okay, I'm out of here," Jenna said, racing down the stairs. "Remember, call me if you need anything, and I'll be back here in a flash. Got it?" she said to Elena

"Got it," Jeremy and Elena said at the same time.

"Alright, I'll see you later. And the rest of you, behave," Jenna said with a grin, heading out again.

She popped her head back in a second later. "Tyler's coming," she said, before popping back out.

Jeremy headed out the door. If Tyler was coming and there was Stefan and Damon and Elena who hadn't seen him yet, there was sure to be some threatening coming Tyler's way, and with the headache that Jeremy was starting to develop, he wasn't really in the mood to listen to it.

Jeremy gave Tyler a nod, heading off down the street.

Tyler knocked on the door and Stefan answered it, but instead of inviting him in, Stefan stepped out.

"Hey man," Tyler said awkwardly.

"Hi," Stefan said, not taking his eyes off the young werewolf.

"Is Caroline here by any chance? I checked her house and Bonnie's place, but no one was there. My phone's dead so I couldn't just call her."

"Yeah, she's here," Stefan said.

"Mind if I go in?" Tyler said, putting his hand on the doorknob.

"You're not going in there yet," Stefan said. "I have something to say to you first."

"Okay," Tyler said, pretty that sure he knew what was coming.

"Caroline's forgiven you, and that's fine. I can respect that. If she's forgiven you, I can try to give you a clean slate too. She's the one who got hurt because you were a coward, but if she's forgiven you, you won't hear a word against yourself from me after today as long as you don't screw up again. Do _not_ be a bad friend to her. Caroline's special, and I'm making you a promise right now- if you hurt her, if you let her down again, if you make her cry- I _will _make you regret it. Don't doubt that for a _second_."

"Okay," Tyler said, taking a breath. "Fair enough. I deserve that."

"Alright then, come in," Stefan said, opening the door back up.

"Let's go Stefan, this has turned into girly-time and apparently we're supposed to go now," Damon said, walking into the kitchen.

Damon's eyes fell on Tyler and a grin spread across his face.

"Well well, look, it's Wolf Boy- or Little Bitch, as I like to think of you. Welcome back to Mystic Falls. Watch your step, kid. I've got my eye on you, and I don't need much of an excuse to kick your ass. Barbie's an idiot for forgiving you. You don't deserve it, but I'll keep my mouth shut. Stay out of my way and make sure you don't piss off Blondie or do something to hurt her cuz I'll have absolutely no problem tearing out your throat."

"Okay, threat number 2," Tyler said, nodding his head.

Damon snorted as Elena and Caroline walked into the kitchen.

Tyler sent a smile to Caroline and she returned it.

"Hi Elena," Tyler said.

"Hey," she said back. "How's your mom?"

"She's good, thanks. No threats from you?" he asked with a sheepish smile.

"Oh no, there's _definitely_ threats from me," Elena said, and both Stefan and Damon grinned, while Caroline bit her lip.

"You've known us since we were in diapers, so you know from seeing it as we've all grown up that Caroline, Bonnie and I are like this," Elena said, crossing her fingers, illustrating the closeness she was talking about. "You know that we protect each other. Admittedly I'm not as scary or threatening as Stefan and Damon cuz I can't really rip your throat out or tear you apart with my bare hands, and I can't kill your brain with a witchy aneurism or use a spell against you like Bonnie can, but I can swing a baseball bat _just_ fine. She forgave you. You're a lucky guy for that. All I'm saying is don't make her regret doing that. Don't disappoint her again, okay. She's your friend again, and I will be, too. If she forgives you, I can forgive you too, I guess. Just make sure you don't betray her again cuz it's not gonna be a pleasant time for you- vampires kicking your ass, Bonnie frying your brain, me pounding away at you with a baseball bat... Be good old Tyler again, he was usually a cool enough guy."

"I don't intend to screw up again," Tyler told Elena seriously.

"I'm very happy about that. That's what I wanted to hear," Elena said, giving him a smile. "The living room is free if you guys wanna talk- I assume that's why you're here, to see Caroline."

Tyler nodded, returning the smile.

Caroline walked back into the living room and Tyler followed.

"Little Miss Gilbert's got a dark side, I like it," Damon said, chuckling. .

Elena rolled her eyes, but she grinned too.

"Poor Tyler," Elena said with a little laugh. "A threat from Stefan before he even walks through the door, then one from you, and then me, and potentially another one when Bonnie finishes her shower."

"He knows he deserves it, he said so himself," Stefan said, grinning a little. "You really kicking us out?"

"Yeah," Elena said with a little laugh and a nod. "I'll be okay, and Bonnie and Caroline are here now, so you don't have to worry about me being alone. I know neither of you slept last night. Go take a break, both of you."

"I'm not tired, I'm good," Stefan said.

"Go," Elena said, smiling.

"Okay," Stefan said. "But I'll come by later again."

"Elena," Bonnie yelled from upstairs in the shower. "I forgot the stupid shampoo, can you come bring it. I don't wanna get out, the water's already running."

"I'm coming," Elena shouted back."Go relax, guys," Elena said to Damon and Stefan before running upstairs to get some shampoo for Bonnie.

"Let's go Stefan," Damon said, heading out the door.

"I actually have to talk to you about something important," Stefan said, following.

"And what would that be?" Damon asked.

"I'll tell you when we get back to the house," Stefan said.

"You've got me curious now Stef."

"Well hurry up and get home so I can tell you, and you won't have to be curious for long," Stefan said, dashing off.

"Okay, what is it?" Damon said, when they got inside their house.

"I want to give the house to Elena. I want to sign it over to her," Stefan said.

"Okay, you legitimately surprised me with that one. I sure as hell didn't see that coming. Why do you want to give our house away?"

"When Klaus and Elijah decide to carry out their little plan- Elijah's got a free invitation to Elena's house. If we sign this place over to her and we get her to stay here before the sacrifice crap goes down, they won't have any access to her because they'd have no invite from her here."

"Okay," Damon said. "We'll sign it over. You just make it very clear to the lovely Elena when the time comes that I get an invitation back into this place. I like my bed."

"I can do that," Stefan said, laughing.

o-o-o-o-o-o

"Sorry about all of that," Caroline said, taking a seat on the couch.

"Don't worry about it," Tyler said, taking a seat next to her. "I deserved it."

"Matt said you enrolled back in school."

"Yeah, I did. I'll be sticking around," he said.

"Good," Caroline said, giving him a small smile. "You shouldn't be skipping so soon after you re-enrolled."

"Says the girl who's lounging around in her friend's living room when she too should be in class."

Caroline grinned and shrugged. "So what's up?" Caroline asked. "Is everything okay?"

_No, not really. Tonight's the full moon and I'm nervous and I was gonna ask you to come help me lock myself up so that I don't hurt anyone, but now I'm thinking I should keep my mouth shut and not be so selfish as to ask you for anything right now. _

"Everything's fine. I didn't see you at school, and I wasn't really in the mood for class, so I decided to see if you were hanging around somewhere. Just wanted to say hi."

"Well, hi," Caroline said with a little laugh. "You sure everything's okay?"

"Yeah," Tyler lied.

He wasn't looking forward to tonight's transformation at all. It still scared the hell out of him. He didn't know if he could ever really feel calm and prepared about transforming into a wolf once a month.

"So you searched for me just to say hi?"

"Yeah, pretty much. I told you I was bored and not in the mood for class, so I thought I'd say hey and see if you wanted to hang for a bit or something, but obviously you don't have time for that right now."

"Maybe we could hang out for a bit tomorrow," Caroline said, feeling bad that he'd come looking for her.

"Cool," Tyler said. "Anyway, I'm gonna get out of here. I'll see you tomorrow."

"Ty," Caroline said.

"Yeah Care?"

"I need a favour."

"Sure, what is it?" he asked.

"What's your next class?"

"Geography with Limon," he told her.

"Me too. Could you _please _ go to class? I just remembered we're gonna have a test at the end of the week, and I could use all the notes I can get from that class."

"You want me to go back to class?"

"Yes. Please," Caroline said, biting her lip, not knowing if he'd go back or not. She really did need the class notes.

"Fine," Tyler said, unable to stop himself from grinning. "But only because you're the one who is asking."

"Thanks. I feel special," Caroline said happily.

_You should feel special, because you are. _

Tyler shrugged and flashed her one last smile before exiting Elena's house.

o-o-o-o-

Jules shook her head in the distance, seeing Tyler. She knew that he'd come back to this stupid town sooner or later, and she was going to make him regret leaving her.

She ducked down when Tyler started to look around, keeping herself hidden.

She was going to keep out of sight until tonight at the full moon, then she'd have some fun and wreak some havoc for Tyler's vampire crush and her friends.

Tyler was going to wish he stayed with her by the time she got through doing what she planned to do.


	46. Chapter 46

**o-0-o-0-o Thanks to the people who have alerted and favourited. And a big thanks to Raya, David Fishwick, celia and Marie for reviewing. I know that everyone might be busy, but I'd appreciate it even if you took just like thirty seconds or a minute to leave a review if you like the chapter. I love hearing if everyone's enjoying the story. Here's chapter 46. Hope you all enjoy it. It's not the longest, but I'll update with anther chapter soon o-0-o-0-o**

Caroline had left an hour earlier at Elena's insistence that she was going to be alright. Caroline had laughed when Elena had the same request for her that Caroline had had for Tyler. Caroline had completely forgotten about another test that week in a different class, and so had Elena until moments earlier. Elena insisted that she'd be okay and asked Caroline to 'Please go to class and save my stupid ass from failure and take some good notes. Pretty, pretty please.'

Caroline had agreed, much to Elena's relief.

Stefan had called Elena a few minutes before Caroline left. He told her to give him a call when Bonnie and Caroline left, or whenever she wanted and he'd be over to keep her company. Caroline was gone, and Bonnie was asleep, head on the pillow in Elena's lap, she had been for about 2 hours now, but Elena didn't really want any other company right now, even if it was coming from Stefan, whom she loved. She needed to be alone right now to try to remember something. She had been having flashes of Katherine in her head, regularly recently. It was like she was supposed to remember something, but she remembered nothing.

Elena started to wonder if she kept getting flashes of Katherine in her mind, simply because she was jealous that Stefan kept making time for her. It would make sense if that was the reason, but Elena didn't really believe that's all it was.

She closed her eyes, not because she was tired, but because sometimes thinking with her eyes closed proved to be very helpful.

Elena wasn't sure how long she sat there with her eyes closed, but that didn't matter at all right now, Katherine's voice rang in her head and Elena wanted to do a victory dance at finally remembering something. _"I'll let you in on a secret if you do something for me."_

"No fair. Why didn't I get an invitation to this little slumber party?"

Elena opened her eyes and saw Damon walking into her living room.

"Hey Damon," Elena said, trying not to sound annoyed. He had interrupted her thoughts just when she might have been getting somewhere.

"How are you doing?" he asked.

"You checking up on me?" she asked him.

"Maybe," Damon said, shrugging.

"You're sweet, but I'll be fine."

Damon sat down on the small coffee table in front of the couch Elena was on. Elena was absentmindedly playing with the sleeping witch's hair.

"When did Bon-Bon knock out," Damon asked, chuckling.

"Couple hours ago. She was telling us about what the hell you guys were doing in Whatever-town, and then she just fell asleep on us mid-conversation.

"How rude!" Damon joked.

"It's your fault," Elena laughed. "She hasn't slept in over 24 hours thanks to your little trip. And since you're here now and I don't see you leaving right away- _you _can tell me what happened since Bonnie fell asleep early on into telling us."

"Fine, fine," Damon said, pretending to sound annoyed. "How much did Judgey tell you?"

"Well, basically she told us that you brought her along as a bodyguard," Elena said, grinning, a funny picture forming in her head.

"Oh ha-ha," Damon said sarcastically.

"A kid, who just happens to be a witch has a crush on you- and you bring Bonnie along- definitely a bodyguard," Elena said, laughing. "I bet the kid thought Bonnie was your girlfriend, and when she found out she was a witch, you were safe from your child admirer. And that's totally what you wanted. You needed Bonnie to protect you."

"I owed the kid, but it's a little uncomfortable when you've got a twelve-year-old girl plotting ways to make you hers, especially when she knows magic. I needed Miss Bennett to protect me. There, I said it, happy, Elena?" Damon asked, laughing too.

"Well, I know that _I _am," Bonnie said, with a sleepy laugh, opening her eyes. "If only that was on tape, I'd play it over and over and over again. Endless amusement for me," Bonnie said, covering up a yawn.

"You want my bed?" Elena asked with a chuckle, looking at her best friend.

Bonnie nodded. "Yes please."

"Go ahead."

"You rock, babe," Bonnie said, yawning again, walking up to Elena's room.

"So you really went to another town, just to return some favour to a kid?" Elena asked, looking intently at Damon.

"Yes and no," Damon said, staring back.

Elena smiled. "What does that mean?"

He loved seeing her smile. He loved it even more when she was smiling at him.

"I owed the kid a favour and I was going to repay it sooner or later, but when she mentioned exactly what I'd be helping her with, if I decided to go, something caught my interest a bit. Some idiot boy from her school enjoys picking on her and pissing her off, so apparently he somehow got into her house and took a bunch of her things. The girl knows what I am, and she wanted me to find the kid and compel him to give her the stuff back and forget what he had found. It belonged to her grandmother, who was a witch too. She had died, but she had left the kid her family's grimoires and stuff like that. All she said at first was that she wanted something back, but when I asked what it was, she told me that they were spellbooks that belonged to her family and one that belonged to a friend of her however many times great-grandmother from like 600 years ago. A friend who had the last name Bennett."

The smile Elena had on her face grew wider and Damon got happier seeing it.

"Every now and then you do things that make so happy that I didn't give up on you- that I didn't write you off. I'm not crazy for seeing good in you, because it's clearly there."

"What are you making me into a saint for?" Damon asked, feeling flattered and uncomfortable at the same time.

"You went to Whatever-town to get the grimoire for Bonnie. You went there to do something cool for Bonnie," Elena said proudly.

"I owed the kid a favour," Damon said, rolling his eyes.

"Yes, but that's not the only reason you went."

Damon just shrugged. "Your crazy witch friend has grown on me. Apparently she's my crazy witch friend now, too. I know she kinda hoped that Lucy could help her out with all the witchy stuff, but she's dead. I heard about the grimoire and I thought maybe there'd be some stuff in there that she could learn that she didn't know about."

"You're a good guy, Damon," Elena said, getting up to hug him.

Damon closed his eyes for a few seconds when Elena's arms went around him, and he breathed her in. He hugged her back and wished that he could do this whenever he wanted to- touch her, hold her, but she wasn't his.

When Damon returned the hug, she remembered what she had managed to forget about for a bit- Damon's 'I love you.'

All thoughts about hearing the rest of the story, about how Damon and Bonnie had come to be attacked but ended up alright were being taken over for the moment by Elena's little dilemma- tell Damon that she remembered what he said and then compelled her to forget, or keep quiet.

Elena was pretty sure that the likelihood of a lot of good coming from telling him that she remembered the words that he had said was very slim, but she couldn't help it, she just started to blurt words out.

When Damon let go of her, Elena said, "Remember when I told you that I couldn't help but feel like something had happened that I just couldn't remember?"

"Yeah," Damon said.

"I remember now."

Damon bit the inside of his cheek, hoping that Elena didn't remember what he had said.

Elena took a deep breath and just came out and said it. "You told me that you love me and you compelled me to forget."


	47. Chapter 47

**o-0-o-0-o Thanks so much to DavidFishwick, stelena lover, laugh4life, Hooked-On-TVD and Marie for the reviews. This is just a little note in a sort of response to stelena lover- even if something happens and certain things go in a different direction, that does not at all mean that that's the way it's gonna stay, so keep sticking around and keep in mind that I'm a Stelena lover too :) ****So here's chapter 47 for all of you wonderful people. Please take a few seconds or a minute or two to leave me a review and let me know if you enjoyed the chapter. I love hearing what you think o-0-o-0-o**

"I don't know what you're talking about, Elena," Damon said, trying to sound convincing.

"Yes you do," Elena said quietly.

Now that she told him that she knew what he had said, she just really needed to settle things, and she really wanted him to know and understand something.

"You're imagining things, Elena," Damon said uncomfortably. "Are you feeling sick or something? Maybe you need to go lie down with Bonnie- get some sleep, too. I'll get out of here so you can rest a bit," Damon said, making it to the door and opening it slightly. He was about to leave, but Elena stopped him and pulled him away from the door.

"I'm not imagining anything, Damon."

"Yes you are. I didn't say those words, and even if I did- why would you bring it up?" Damon said, knowing that Elena wasn't believing one word he was saying.

"For the last time, I am _not _imagining anything, and I've been wrestling with this for days now. I planned on just keeping my mouth shut, but I couldn't. I wanted to just keep my mouth shut because I didn't want to make you feel awkward, but I just had to say it... I really didn't know that you felt that way about me."

"Drop this, Elena. _Now_. You're talking crazy," Damon said, clenching his fists, feeling beyond uncomfortable.

"You told me that you had to say it once. You told me that I needed to hear it. You said you loved me, and it was because you loved me that you couldn't be selfish- why I couldn't know. You said that you didn't deserve me but that Stefan did," Elena said, giving his words back to him, taking hold of his hand, and taking a deep breath. "You've been really good to me, Damon, and I want you to know that I'm really happy to have you in my life. I'm lucky to have you in my life. You mean a lot to me, you really do. Any girl would be lucky to have you, and _yes _Stefan does deserve me, but so do you. There is _nothing _wrong with you."

Damon was quite literally speechless, and Stefan, who neither Elena or Damon noticed, wanted to smash a hole through something, instead, he sped away, not saying a word, without Damon or Elena noticing.

There was a sick feeling in Stefan's stomach and what felt like a complete break in his heart.

_What the hell was that? What the hell was that? Damon deserves her, too? And he told her that he loved her? When did that happen? Elena's got a thing for Damon? She wants us both? Oh God, not this again. Seriously, did she actually say that he deserved her, too? We can't repeat 1864. We are not sharing the same girl again. No, just no... Is she gonna leave me? Oh my God. Get yourself together, Stefan. Maybe this isn't what you think._

Stefan was back at the Salvatore mansion, and he was pacing back and forth. What he had heard Elena say threw him completely for a loop. Everything was messed up in his head right now. His heart was breaking. Where had this come from? When did his brother tell his girlfriend that he loved her, and when had Elena developed feelings for Damon in return?

Stefan had worried about this last year, but Elena had told him that she only loved him. And it was true, wasn't it?

The thought that he was losing Elena was too much for Stefan to handle. He knew that if he tried to calm down and think more rationally that things might make more sense, but he couldn't get rid of the thought that Elena was in love with his brother, too, and he just couldn't be rational at the moment about that.

Stefan usually wasn't much of a drinker, and it hadn't been long ago at all that he told Katherine that alcohol wasn't going to solve her problems- that they'd all be there when the alcohol wore off, but he was going to be a hypocrite today, and he didn't care right now.

He pulled out several bottles from the cupboard, and started drinking.

o-o-o-o-o-o

"There's nothing about me that is special, and nothing about you that makes you unworthy. Why wouldn't you deserve me? If I wasn't in love with your brother I could fall for you. I love you, you know? I do. I'm not _in _love with you, but please don't think that you're not good enough for me. You're important, and I don't want to ever picture my life without you in it."

Elena's hands were trembling. There was a part of her that was protective of Damon, and Elena guessed that qualified also as even being protective of him from himself. Elena was not in love with Damon, but she cared a lot and she did not want him thinking that he wasn't good enough.

Damon closed his eyes and tried to concentrate. He didn't want Elena to be worrying about these things. He didn't want her to feel awkward later on. He didn't want things between them to be weird from here on out, and the only thing Damon could think to do to make sure things would not be weird was to lie.

Damon put on a small smile. "I didn't want to talk about this. There was no need to bring this up, but since you insisted on bringing this up, thank you for saying those things, they mean a lot to me. So _yes _I did say all that stuff, and I know that you're pissed at me for compelling you, and I'm sorry for that... Listen, since then, things have changed. I've thought about things, and stuff, and it's different now. You don't need to worry about my feelings, because you and me are fine, Elena. Some time has passed, and the feelings aren't quite the same anymore. You and me are on pretty much the same wavelength now. I'll slit someone's throat for you in a second and I'd _never _ let anything happen to you, but I don't think I'm in love with you anymore, so don't worry about that. We can just be normal. There doesn't have to be any awkwardness at all. We can be just what you want- friends."

"Really?" Elena said hopefully.

"Really," Damon said, letting out a small chuckle.

"Good," Elena said, hugging him tightly.

_I think I'm going to love you until I die, Elena. _

"I think I might actually be able to get a little bit more rest now," Elena said with a small, relieved, laugh.

"I'm gonna get out of here while you go get comfy with Bonnie," Damon said. "But if you need anything, call me and I'll be here."

"Unfortunately that's not going to happen right now," Bonnie said, rubbing her eyes, coming back down the stairs.

"What's up?" Elena asked.

"My dad just called. He's coming down later tonight to see me," Bonnie said, covering up a yawn. She felt completely exhausted. "Elena, why don't you come over? I don't want you to be alone."

"I'm fine here _ mom,_" Elena said, kissing her sleep-deprived friend on the forehead. "I wasn't so good this morning, but I'm gonna be okay. John might still have a lot of time left, who knows? And he could get better. You always hear about those little freak miracle things, maybe that'll happen for him too. And even if it doesn't, I can't focus on being sad. If I only have a certain amount of time with John, I've got to try to not be sad. I need to just be normal."

"Fair enough," Bonnie said, "but you can still come hang with me."

"Thanks B, but I really am just gonna go get some sleep."

"Okay," Bonnie said, giving Elena a hug. "But call me the second you wanna talk or whatever, okay?"

Elena nodded.

"Damon-" Bonnie started

"You want me to drive you home, Sleepyhead?" Damon asked, laughing at the witch who could barely keep her eyes open.

"Definitely, I don't think I'd actually make it to my house if I tried to walk. I'd probably fall asleep on the sidewalk," Bonnie said, picking up her purse and the grimoire.

"Let's go Judgey," Damon said, heading for the door.

"Remember, call me if you need anything," Bonnie reminded Elena again.

"I will," Elena told her friend. "I'll see you guys later, and Damon, I'm really glad we talked."

"Me too," Damon said, as he and Bonnie walked out the door.

"So Bon-Bon, how much of my conversation with the lovely Elena did you hear?" Damon asked, as he and Bonnie got into his car.

"I wasn't eavesdropping. I don't know how much I heard, because I don't know how long you guys were speaking," Bonnie told him. "I was coming down to leave because my dad called, and then all I heard was Elena telling you everything that you told her- the stuff you told me when you were wasted and I almost killed you. I figured that things would be more awkward if I came down the steps in the middle of that, rather than waiting until you guys were done with the serious talk," Bonnie said, rubbing her eyes again. "I think you handled that well, so kudos to you for that, even if you did completely lie."

"She's happier with my lie, so it was worth it," Damon said. "No need to stir crap up and make things weird."

"A little bit of selflessness- I'm proud of you, Salvatore," Bonnie said, yawning again.

o-o-o-o-o-o

Stefan drank more in one hour than he probably had in a year. He'd gone to the basement and grabbed some blood bags and decided to head off to see Katherine.

"Katherine, Katherine, Katherine," Stefan said, walking into the tomb, laughing.

It wasn't a happy laugh, though, and Katherine picked up on that in less than a second.

"Here you go," Stefan said, tossing her the blood bags he had brought.

"Thanks," she said. "What's wrong, Stefan?" she asked him.

"Oh nothing," he said sarcastically.

"Something's obviously wrong. I'm pretty sure you're drunk, and that's not something that happens very often," Katherine said, getting up from her sitting position to get a better look at Stefan.

"Do you think my girlfriend is in love with my brother?" he asked quietly, taking a seat on the ground.

"What happened, Stefan? You obviously heard or saw something major if you went off to get drunk."

"Don't talk like you know me, Katherine. You don't know me," Stefan said. "Not anymore."

"Oh yes I do, Stefan," she told him.

"No," he said, shaking his head. "But maybe you know Elena a little bit, you're related after all," Stefan said, laughing humourlessly.

"If she's anything at all like me, she's not in love with Damon," Katherine said, taking a breath.

Stefan snorted. ""Yeah, but then again, if she's anything like you, it apparently won't matter if she's not in love with him- if she's anything like you, I'm not enough for her. If she's anything like you, not being in love with him won't matter at all, she'll still sleep with him anyway." Stefan said, looking away from Katherine.

A big part of Katherine wanted to yell at him to shut the hell up, but another part of her felt like absolute crap.

"I'm saying this _one _ time, Stefan. You _were _enough for me, I was just selfish as hell, though. Elena is in love with you. She's not in love with your brother."

A huge part of Katherine wanted to lie and tell Stefan that _yes _ his girlfriend was in love with his brother, for her own benefit, but the other part didn't want to cause Stefan any pain. She hated to see him hurting.

"How do you know?"

"Why would you ask me if she loved him if you weren't going to believe my answer?" Katherine asked him.

"I didn't say I don't believe your answer, I'm asking you how you know she's not in love with him."

"Because she told me so, and because it's pretty obvious to anyone with eyes that she's in love with you," Katherine said, leaning her head back, sitting down again too.

"Okay," Stefan said, taking a deep breath.

"Start from the beginning, Stefan. Tell me what happened to make you even start wondering that. And did you do anything stupid?"

"I didn't do anything stupid. I left right away, they didn't know that I was there. I didn't want to make a scene, especially when Elena's dealing with this John stuff, too. I don't want to cause her stress or upset her, even if she's about to stomp on my heart."

"Okay, Stefan. Tell me what happened."

"Was your night okay? Did Anton bother you?" Stefan asked suddenly.

"It was alright," Katherine said, biting her lip.

"You're okay?" he asked her.

"I'm okay," she told him, suddenly feeling like she might cry at the combination of sadness and hurt in Stefan's eyes and voice when he asked if Elena was in love with Damon, and now with his question of concern over herself. She hated that he went off and got himself drunk- that wasn't Stefan. Sadness should never have to touch Stefan. Katherine wanted it nowhere near him.

"That's good," Stefan said. "Katherine," Stefan said quietly.

"Yeah, Stefan?"

"I love her _so_ much. I love Elena so much. It hurts to think that she could love somebody else."

"I know, Stefan. I know," she answered, closing her eyes. _I know _all _ about that feeling._


	48. Chapter 48

**o-0-o-0-o I intended to have this chapter up days earlier, but my computer was giving me problems again. I'm really sorry. So here it is, but a little later than I intended. I actually added a little bit extra in the chapter for being late as a little make-up. Thanks to Stelena lover, David Fishwick, Raya, Tina, celia, Marie, and Anna-Lisa for the reviews. Here's chapter 48. I really hope everyone will enjoy it. Take a few seconds or a minute or two if you've got it to leave me a review and let me know what you think o-0-o-0-o**

"I thought I was supposed to come to school and write some great notes for you while you hung out with the other two members of the Trio," Tyler said, grinning at Caroline, sitting down at the desk beside her.

"You were," she told him. "I'm only here right now so that I can take some notes for next class. Me and Elena pretty much forgot that we have a test in that class on Friday too. She kinda begged me to come, so here I am."

"Now I've got company for this boring-ass class. Good stuff," Tyler said.

"You came by to see if I wanted to hang out before and I said maybe tomorrow, but maybe we could hang out a bit today if you still want to," Caroline said, lowering her voice as the classroom started to fill up some more.

"I still want to, but I can't tonight," Tyler said. "I'll still take you up on tomorrow if you're up for it, though."

"Yeah, tomorrow's good," Caroline said, turning her attention to their grumpy teacher who had just walked in. Caroline was not a fan of this teacher or class at all. Boring wasn't quite a strong enough word for the teacher or class.

"Smile, it's the most exciting class ever," Tyler whispered, teasing Caroline.

She rolled her eyes and gave him the smallest of grins.

o-o-o-o-o-o

"Oh crap," Bonnie mumbled.

"What?" Damon asked her.

"Wanna drive me to the grocery store?"

"Not particularly, but if you ask me real nice, I could be persuaded," Damon said with a grin.

"Damon Salvatore, please please please drive me to the grocery store. Is that nice enough?"

"You could have done much better Bon-Bon, but since you said please, I suppose I can be your chauffer a little longer."

"Okay good," Bonnie said, yawning again.

"What do you need to get?"

"I think I'm gonna get some pasta. Dad said he liked that the last time I made it, though now that I think about it, he could have been lying... Whatever, yeah I'm just going with pasta. I'll make him some pasta, even _I_don't usually screw that up. And it won't take too long, which means I can add a real nap somewhere in there. Two hours of sleep did absolutely nothing for me."

"Why don't you just order something, Judgey?" Damon suggested as if it was the most obvious thing to do in the world. "That way you can go knock out for a few more hours after you clean up or whatever the hell it is you're gonna do before your dad gets home."

"I'd gladly order something, but I swear that man hates like every place that delivers in this town. I once ordered from seven different places, and he hated everything, no joke," Bonnie told him, closing her eyes.

"How do you make your sauce?" Damon asked.

"I buy a can and I usually add some peppers or something," Bonnie said, rubbing her eyes.

"That's pathetic," Damon said.

"Gee thanks, jerk," Bonnie mumbled.

"If I do you an awesome favour right now, will you tack on another I-owe-Damon to your list," Damon asked Bonnie, grinning a little.

"What is this awesome favour?" Bonnie asked, sighing.

"_I _will make your supper, and in turn you will owe me one more favour," Damon told her.

"_You're_ gonna make supper for me and my dad?" Bonnie asked, laughing.

"Stefan's not the only brother who can cook, Judgey."

"Okay, deal," Bonnie said. "I'm actually curious to see what this is going to taste like."

"I'm perfect and I'm making it, therefore it's gonna taste like perfection. Obviously" Damon said.

"You're such a modest guy," Bonnie said sarcastically.

o-o-o-o-o-o

Elena had hopped into her bed immediately after Damon and Bonnie left.

She knew there was more to remember, and it had to do with Katherine. She had remembered some sort of flash of something befor, and she intended to get the rest of that memory.

Elena got under her covers and closed her eyes, determined to figure out whatever it was that kept creeping its way into her head.

Elena kept repeating that one sentence she had recalled Katherine saying. She repeated it in her head over and over. _"I'll let you in on a secret if you do something for me."_

When she felt like sleep was going to take over, she gave into it, hoping she might remember something while she was sleeping. She had recalled what Damon had told her while she was asleep, after all.

o-o-o-o-o-o-o

Katherine kept her eyes on Stefan as she drank some of the blood he had brought to her.

"You gonna stick around here for awhile, Stefan?" she asked him gently.

She hoped he was going to say yes because she had the feeling like he'd probably still do something stupid if he left right now, even though she seemed to have managed to calm him down. He was still kind of drunk, and she preferred him staying with her instead of possibly doing something he was going to regret.

"Yeah, if you don't mind," Stefan answered.

"I don't mind," Katherine told him.

"Okay. I think I might just close my eyes for a bit," Stefan said.

"That's probably a good idea," Katherine replied.

He'd probably be back to normal with a couple hours of sleep.

"I love Elena so much, it hurt so bad to think she might want Damon, I needed to tell someone. I know it hurts you when I talk about loving her. I don't want to hurt you, though. I'm not trying to."

"I know," Katherine told him with mixed emotions.

"You can be really nice sometimes, Katherine," Stefan said, closing his eyes.

"Mostly I'm just horrible," Katherine said, with a small laugh, remembering back to when Stefan said those same words in 1864.

"That's what you told me the last time I said that to you."

"You remember that?" she asked him.

He didn't answer. That's how quickly Stefan fell asleep.

Katherine was stuck on those words now, and the words brought back the memories.

"_Come on. Let's go. I'm sure you want to see your mother. I think she's very worried about you. She'll be happy we found you," Katherine said to the little girl._

_The little girl didn't move._

_Stefan leaned down, and looked at the little girl. "Are you hurt?" he asked her._

_The girl backed away from Stefan and moved towards Katherine, but she stumbled and her eyes started to water. Katherine bent down to help the child up, but instead of the girl taking Katherine's hand, she threw herself at her and wrapped her arms around Katherine's neck._

_Katherine was taken aback. She hadn't been this close to any child in centuries, let alone one she wasn't related to._

_She took a deep, but unnecessary breath, trying to adjust to the child being so close._

"_Did somebody hurt you?" Katherine asked._

"_Yes," the little girl said quietly._

"_It was a man, huh?" Katherine said, already figuring that part out for herself from seeing the child's reaction to Stefan.._

"_Yes," the child answered._

"_What happened?" Katherine asked._

"_I was playing outside the house and then he came and he put his hand over my mouth and he took me and he brought me here, and he threw me on the floor. My back hurts a lot, and my arms too. He hit me. He said he was going to hurt me more and that no one would hear me scream."_

_Stefan watched as Katherine's expression went from one of anger to one of rage._

"_Do you know who it was?" Katherine asked, keeping her temper in check, not wanting to scare the kid even more._

"_Do you know who Mr. Whillfold is?" the girl asked Katherine._

_Katherine nodded._

"_It was him," the girl said quietly. "He was going to hurt me a lot more, but I think he heard you coming. He said 'Oh no' and then he ran away, and then I saw you."_

"_How about I go find him?" Katherine said, giving the child a smile._

"_No!" the child said, practically screaming. "He'll hurt you too."_

_Katherine's smile grew wider. "No he won't. Don't tell anyone, but I'm really strong," Katherine said, quietly._

"_How can you be really strong when you're so pretty?" the girl asked Katherine._

_Stefan smiled and laughed a bit, and Katherine grinned at the little girl._

"_You wait right here with Stefan, okay?__ Stefan's nice. He's not going to hurt you," Katherine said, speeding off._

_Katherine ran off and found the man quickly. She played around with him for a little bit, messing with his head, before going in for the kill. She ripped into his skin and she drank deep. When she was done, she threw him into some bushes and headed back to Stefan and the little girl._

"_What happened?"_

"_I made him go away. He's not going to hurt you again," Katherine told the child._

"_Really?"_

"_Really," Katherine confirmed._

"_You have something on your mouth," the girl said to Katherine._

_Stefan knew that Katherine had killed Mr. Whillfold, and that it was his blood on her lips._

"_Silly me, I'm a sloppy eater today," Katherine said. "I had some berries in my pocket, and I ate them. I guess I forgot to clean the juice off my lips."_

_The girl laughed and Katherine sent her a grin._

_Stefan watched Katherine and the child, and he smiled. Katherine seemed to genuinely like this girl. And aside from himself and his brother and Emily, Katherine's friendly interactions with humans were usually fake._

"_Let's get you home," Katherine said._

_When they finally got the girl home, just before they knocked on the door, Katherine made the child forget the man who took her, and she made her forget that Katherine went looking for him. _

_After they had knocked on the door and got the girl inside, the smile that Katherine had put on when saying goodbye to the child vanished. _

"_You're a stupid, stupid woman. You do nothing in this house all day long and you couldn't be bothered to watch your own child? It's your fault that she was taken in the first place. If we hadn't found her and whoever took her killed her, that would have been all on you. If you're too lazy to watch her when she's outside, at least have one of your maids watch her. You've got more than enough of those."_

_The woman started to cry, and this made Katherine happy._

_She walked away muttering, "Stupid, idiot cow."_

"_I'm glad you came to look for her with me," Stefan told Katherine when they were back at his home. _

"_I only went for you," Katherine told him, closing the door to Stefan's room behind her._

"_I know," he said. "But I saw it. You liked the girl. You wanted to make sure she was safe. You weren't pretending to be nice with her like you do with most other people."_

_Katherine rolled her eyes. _

_Stefan looked at her and just shook his head. Katherine grinned at this._

"_You can be really nice sometimes, Katherine."_

"_Mostly I'm just horrible," she said, laughing a little._

"_Not to me," he said simply. _

"_No more talking, love," Katherine whispered. "I do believe we're alone in this house right now. I say that we should take advantage of that. Don't you agree?" she asked mischievously. _

"_I do agree," he answered._

_Their clothes soon littered the floor of Stefan's room, and they stayed there for quite awhile. It was only when Stefan later got up to get something that he wanted to give to Katherine that some of the clothing got put back on. _

"_There's something I want you to have," Stefan said, as he walked over to his dresser._

"_And what would that be?" Katherine asked, getting up and following him. _

_Stefan opened the drawer and pulled out a small box. _

"_This," he said, pulling out a ring on a gold chain, putting it into her hand. _

_Katherine looked down at the items in her hand, and she bit her lip. _

"_My mother's," Stefan said quietly. _

_Katherine gave him a smile._

"_I was really young when she died, but she gave this to me and she told me that when I got older I should give this to the woman that I was sure I would always love. For me, that's you, so this is yours."_

_Katherine could count the number of times that she had given someone a hug since she became a vampire on her fingers, and she wouldn't even need to use all ten of them, but here she was reaching out to Stefan and pulling him into one. _

"_Thank you, Stefan," she whispered to him. "Thank you very much. I'll take good care of it."_

Katherine opened her eyes and smiled. She saw that Anton was staring at her. She rolled her eyes at him and turned back towards Stefan, and watched him some more.

o-o-o-o-o-o

The last bell rang. The school day was over.

"Hey you," Matt said, wrapping his arms around Caroline's waist.

"Hey yourself," Caroline said, jumping a little bit. Matt had surprised her, she hadn't been paying attention to her surroundings. She had been thinking about Elena, and she was thinking about the rest of Bonnie and Damon's little crazy adventure story that she still didn't get to hear because Bonnie went and fell asleep on them. And she had been thinking about Tyler too. She could very well be reacting to nothing at all, but she had the feeling like there was something up with Tyler.

"I didn't think you were coming to school today," Matt said.

"I didn't think I was either, but I came to take some notes from my last class because we have a test on Friday that Elena and I forgot about."

"I'm almost sure you won't want to go, which is cool because I know someone who will actually want to go for sure, but since you're my girlfriend you get the first invite," Matt said.

"Go where," Caroline asked, grinning at how cute Matt looked at the moment.

Matt pulled out a pair of concert tickets. "The show is tonight, and I only managed to get them this morning."

Caroline made a face, and shook her head. Matt just laughed.

"Sorry," Caroline said.

"Don't worry about it," Matt said, still laughing.

She hated this band, and he wasn't surprised at all that she didn't want to go.

"Jeremy likes these guys, he was actually talking about wanting to get tickets for this concert the other day. I'll call him and see if he still wants to go."

"You're not mad?" Caroline asked.

"No, I know you don't like these guys. I'm just gonna ask Jeremy. No worries," Matt told her.

"Okay good," Caroline said, offering a relieved smile.

"I'm gonna head out, then," Matt said.

"Alright, I'll see you tomorrow," Caroline said, giving him a quick kiss.

o-o-o-o-o-o-o

They'd gone to the store already and were now back at Bonnie's house.

"You've got mail, Bennett. Your little lover boy sent you a text message," Damon said, opening the bag of pasta, as Bonnie rummaged in her cupboard for two pots.

"Don't read it. Don't be nosy," Bonnie said, finding what she wanted.

"Your phone is sitting open, it's hard not to read it when the message is flashing in my face," he said grinning.

Bonnie gave him a dirty look and grabbed her phone to read the message.

_I'm pretty sure you're really annoyed with me, and I'm sorry for acting like a jealous idiot over stupid little things. I don't really know what I'm supposed to say. I'm just sorry."_

Bonnie read the message and sighed. She'd rather talk to him than send him a text message back because she had more than a few small things she wanted to say to him, and she wanted to know why he was so insecure about everything. I was really starting to drive her nuts. She was really tired, so she wasn't in the mood to write a long text or carry on a phone conversation.

She sent him a quick text telling him that she'd give him a call later and they'd talk then.

"The pots are on the counter, the groceries are there, and the stove is right in front of you. Have fun while I go knock out," Bonnie said heading up the stairs to her room. "Please don't burn down my house, Salvatore."

o-o-o-o-o-o

_"I've walked the earth for more than 500 years. And in that time I've loved three people, really loved, three people. It's not a lot, but don't ever tell me that I have never loved. When I love, I love with everything I've got. Yeah, I'm evil and selfish and a bitch- all true for the most part, minus those three people. Funnily enough,_you_are connected to every single one of them."_

_"Tell me Katherine, who did you love? Or who_do_you love and do you hate me? You might as well tell me the truth, because I'm gonna end up dead pretty soon and maybe you too, if Klaus really is on his way."_

_"I love my mother, my daughter and Stefan. And yes it is_love_and not loved, because I still feel it," Katherine said._

_"Do you hate me?" Elena asked again._

_"You not only look like me, but my blood runs in your veins. I'm not a stupid woman, and as annoying as you are, you aren't stupid either, so don't act like it. Go away Elena. You should start running. Klaus will probably find you, but running at least gives you some time," Katherine said, not answering her question._

_"Do you hate me?"_

_"Wouldn't you like to know," Katherine grinned._

_"Do you really want me to die?" _

_"How's Stefan?" Katherine asked, not answering._

_"You do love him, don't you? In your own way, you really do love him."_

_"Ding, ding, ding. Correct," Katherine answered flippantly... "What's__not__to love about him?" _

_"You messed him up, you know that? He doesn't believe that you loved him and I think that sometimes carries over to me."_

_Katherine raised an eyebrow._

_"Sometimes I think he really wonders if I love him and sometimes he thinks that I want Damon, which I don't. I think it all goes back to you. I_know_he loves me and I know he wants to be with me, but I really wonder sometimes if he's completely let you go... And you, why_did_you let him go? Why did you leave him? Why didn't you take him when you ran all those years ago?"_

_"I_never _let him go. I checked on him plenty throughout the years and I always wanted to see him again one day. But I left without him_because_I loved him. If I didn't give a crap, I would have grabbed him from the cold, hard ground and put him in that carriage with me instead of kissing him goodbye and telling him I loved him and promising that we'd be together again one day, some day," Katherine said, turning away._

_"If Klaus did find me and I had Stefan with me, he would have been a goner too, and I never wanted that. I'd never allow that. There was something comforting about the thought that even if that bastard did find me and kill me, that Stefan would still be out there, alive or, I guess- existing and well."_

_"What about Damon then, why didn't you take him with you. He would have been company."_

_"I wasn't in love with Damon, but I did care about him. I didn't want anything to happen to him either, but I didn't take him, also, because of Stefan. And while I had my fun for awhile playing around, I shouldn't have pit them against each other. Those two loved each other then, and they still do now, it's just harder to see. I knew Stefan would grieve my loss and it would be cruel to take away his brother too. And believe whatever you want, but I don't have cruelty in my heart where Stefan is concerned. I don't want him to suffer," Katherine said._

_"I believe you loved him, hell, I even believe you love him now, but how can you say you don't have cruelty in your heart for him after everything you've done so far, after making my aunt nearly kill herself. You had to know that after that, I'd finally take your damn warning about me and him not being together seriously, that I'd end things with him. How can you say you had no cruelty in your heart for him? When I went to end things with him, he was crushed. He was devastated. He was destroyed. If you would have seen him, even_you_would have cried. Why would you want him to be sad like that, even if you hated us being together?"_

_"Sometimes you have to be cruel to be kind," Katherine said._

_"Seriously? That's your answer?" _

_"Let's get something clear. I want him back. Stefan is_mine._ I had him first, I_made_him. All those years ago, I fell for him. I fell hard and it freaked me out. I wasn't supposed to fall for him," Katherine stopped for a moment, turning away again. "But he made me care, he made me love him. He was the sweetest and kindest guy ever and it wasn't bullshit, it was genuine. I wasn't used to that. The things he would say and the way his face would just light up when I walked in the room... I__hate__that he's with you, for more than one reason, and you can believe whatever you want, but I hate seeing him sad, I hate seeing him down. Getting you two to break up served more than one purpose- it got you the hell away from him, which was for me, but the main reason was for him. If you two would break up, I thought maybe his feelings for you would start to lessen, maybe it would kill him a little less when Klaus eventually came for you and murdered you," Katherine said simply._

_"Oh."_

_"Oh indeed," Katherine said with a tired laugh._

_"What am I to you, technically? Give me that at least."_

_"What the hell, why not," Katherine said. "I'm telling you now, you're going to hear a lot of the word daughter."_

_"Tell me."_

_"You're my daughter's, daughter's, daughter's, daughter's, daughter's, daughter's, daughter's, daughter's, daughter's, daughter's, daughter's, daughter's, daughter's, daughter's, daughter's, daughter's, daughter's, daughter's, daughter's, daughter's, daughter's, daughter's, daughter's, daughter's, daughter's daughter's daughter," Katherine said._

_"You didn't even have to think about that, that's pretty impressive."_

_"I know my bloodline, what can I say?" Katherine mumbled._

_"Have you seen all of them, I mean, at one point or another?" "Yep."_

_"When did you find out about me?" _

_"You're annoying me," Katherine said._

_"That's nice, I don't care. I'll be dead soon enough and you don't give a crap, which is fine, but you owe me information."_

_"I saw you the day you were born," Katherine told her._

_"My mother- Isobel, did she__ever__love me?" _

_"Elena, who gives a shit? This doesn't matter. Get the hell out of here, you moron! Run!" Katherine snapped._

_"You bitch, run where, huh? You said it yourself, he's going find me anyway, and I'm more worried for the people I care about than myself. If anything I want__them__to run. So shut up and stop telling me to run, it's not like you care anyway. Just shut up and tell me what I want to know. I know virtually nothing about who I really am and you owe it to me to tell me what I want to know before I die."_

_Katherine kept her mouth shut._

"_Screw you and screw my mother too."_

_"Of course your mother loved you," Katherine finally said. "You wouldn't have been able to tell that I was my mother's daughter by looking at us. I didn't look like my mother, but I had her eyes. You look exactly like me- you have her eyes too... I don't hate you, Elena. I hate that my guy loves you, and make no doubt about it, if we all survive I _will_try to get him back, but I don't hate you... Like it or not, you're mine. You're my blood, you carry on my blood-line. And I look you in the eye and I see my mother, and I-" Katherine said, taking a pause... "The past year or two aside, you had a pretty good life, didn't you?" _

_"Yeah."_

_"You're welcome," Katherine said sarcastically._

_"Am I supposed to thank you for something?" _

_"I've kept Klaus and the rest of his merry gang far away from you for nearly your whole life. I managed to keep your existence mostly secret from anyone who could do you harm and even when whispers started going around that maybe, just maybe, the Petrova bloodline did not end with me, I always managed to get them sent in the opposite direction. And your mother, though I never told her any specifics, has been trying to keep you safe too."_

_"I don't understand you. You act like you hate me, but you say you don't. And you know what, I think I might believe you there, we're blood and I can see that that means something, but now you come back to Mystic Falls and you've been trying to set up everything so that you can hand me over to Klaus. Why the hell now, after you apparently looked out for me, are you so ready to let Klaus kill me? Are you just tired of running? I don't get it."_

_"I'll let you in on a secret if you do something for me," Katherine said._

_"What do you want?" _

_"Tell Stefan that I love him. He doesn't believe me when I tell him myself."_

_"You want me to tell__my__boyfriend that__you__love him?" _

_"Yep," Katherine answered._

_"Fine, I think he needs to hear that anyway, even if it's not for the same reason. I'll do it."_

_"Let's just say that yeah, I'm scared that Klaus is coming, and trust me, he _is_coming. And he's coming with nothing but death on his mind. You pissed me off big time a couple days ago and so did Stefan. I_may _have overplayed my willingness to sacrifice you. I _might _have a plan that could possibly put you in a whole lot of danger, possibly still get you killed, but if this plan that I may or may not have works, you and I could be sitting pretty for a long time without any worries," Katherine said with a bit of a grin._

_"Well, this plan you might have sounds pretty awesome compared to guaranteed dying."_

_"You need to find something, preferably lots of that something, if this plan could work, this something you need can be found in Mystic Falls, you just have to find it. I don't know where. Get your little gang together and start working your asses off."_

_"What do we need to look for?" _

_"It's called white-ash wood. Chop chop, Elena. The clock is ticking," Katherine said._

_"Tell me more."_

_"That's all you get right now. My game, my rules. Don't say I never do anything nice for you. Don't ever say I don't at least_try_to protect my own."_

_"Thanks- I guess."_

_"Be sure to send Stefan my love."_

Elena sat up in her bed, rubbing her eyes. "It's about damn time I remembered all of that," she said out loud to herself.

The sun had started to set, and Elena got out of her bed. It was time she paid Katherine a visit and talked to her one on one.

There was a lot to talk about.

o-o-o-o-o-o-o

Stefan was still sleeping, but Katherine wanted to know if there was any progress on getting her out of here, and Stefan should be back to normal by now.

Just in case there was a chance that Stefan had something new to tell her about getting her out of this stupid tomb, or in case there was anything new about Klaus or Elijah, Katherine decided to go into Stefan's head instead of actually talking to him out loud. She didn't want or need Anton to hear anything.

"_Knock knock Stefan, let me in. Did you sleep off your drunkenness off, love? You done moping and asking me crazy questions?" Katherine asked._

"_I don't want to talk about any of that," Stefan told her._

"_I think the alcohol's left your system," Katherine sighed. "You're right back to being guarded with me again."_

"_I just don't want to talk about it, okay?" Stefan said tiredly. _

"_Fine-" _

_And then Katherine was gone from Stefan's dream. _

Katherine opened her eyes, hearing someone coming down. It took a second but then Elena came into view.

"Oh yay, you've come to visit," Katherine said, rolling her eyes at her doppelganger.

"I need to talk to you. I only just remembered something tonight. It was a conversation I had with you. I couldn't remember it for so long. I guess it was part of those 48 hours I couldn't remember after I hit my head that night," Elena said, getting to the point, tucking her hair behind her ear.

"What are you talking about?" Katherine asked her.

"_Katherine, where'd you go? Katherine, are you okay? What's wrong? Where'd you go?" Stefan called out, wondering what had happened to make Katherine cut out of the dream. _

"A couple days after I talked to you here and Stefan came and took me home, I came here and talked to you again, but I haven't been able to remember that until now. I fell down the stairs that night before I could tell anyone about what you had said. I hit my head, and I lost my memory of two days," Elena explained.

"I guess that explains why you never told Stefan what I said," Katherine said, standing up, walking closer to Elena.

For whatever reason, at the mention of Stefan, Elena looked down. And then she saw Stefan, head leaned back against the cave wall, asleep.

A knot formed in Elena's stomach and she took a deep breath. _Why the hell is he here? Why the hell is he asleep here? Why is he here with her, why wasn't he at my place with me? Okay, just breathe, take another breath. You never called him, remember? You never texted him. He told you to let him know when Bonnie and Caroline were gone. He said he'd come see you. You're the one who didn't tell him to come see you... So what, even so, he didn't need to come here. He's seeing her too much. Can't keep dealing with this. This is starting to hurt a little too much._

Katherine could tell Elena wasn't at all happy to see Stefan down here. Her frown made it pretty clear.

Katherine couldn't help but grin a little bit. Elena was totally jealous that Stefan was down here with her.

"Why's he here?" Elena asked quietly.

"I'll let you guess that," Katherine said, unable and not wanting to hide her grin.

She was having a little fun with Elena being jealous. The jealousy was like an acknowledgement from someone other than herself that there had been something major between her and Stefan.

Elena's hands clenched into fists. She took another deep breath and looked back down at Stefan.

Her phone started to vibrate in her pocket, so she momentarily took her eyes off of Stefan to see who it was. The Caller ID said it was John.

Elena cleared her throat and picked up.

"Hello," she said, trying to sound calm.

It wasn't John who answered, though. It was Isobel's voice that Elena heard on the other end of the phone.

"Your idiot father lied to you. He's not better. He's still sick, and he's going to die. You tell him to stop being stupid, and you tell him to let me turn him so he doesn't just rot away and vanish of the face of the earth. He'll listen to you. You tell him," Isobel said, practically screaming at her.

Elena could hear John in the background. "Damn you, Isobel. Damn you!" he yelled.

"I'm not letting you die, you stubborn idiot," Isobel told him. "Elena, talk to him. I know you don't like us, but he's your father and I know that some part of you loves him, so you make him see some sense. He doesn't need to die. I know you don't want him to die."

Elena just hung up the phone and bit her lip. She had managed to forget about John for a little while, but this phone call just brought everything back and made it all worse. Isobel sounded distraught. Water started pooling in Elena's eyes.

"What's wrong?" Katherine asked her, seeing that her eyes had turned watery.

Elena didn't answer her.

"Katherine, where'd you go? Katherine, are you okay? Katherine, talk to me."

Elena heard those words and looked down at Stefan. He was talking in his sleep about Katherine. He was saying Katherine's name in his sleep. And she absolutely could not handle that right now.

That was absolutely it. Elena had had enough. The tears weren't just in her eyes anymore, they were coming down her face.

"Saying your name in his sleep, I bet you just _love _that," Elena said to Katherine, gritting her teeth.

It probably had a lot to do with getting emotional over John again and Isobel's practically desperate call, but Elena wasn't thinking about any of those things as possibly motivating her next words. She just couldn't take this right now. She'd been worried about things with Stefan and Katherine, and seeing him here with her tonight and hearing him talk to her in his sleep did something to Elena. Why would he be dreaming about her? She couldn't handle this.

"When my boyfriend wakes up, you tell him that I can't do this anymore," Elena said to Katherine, quickly exiting the tomb..

"What?" Katherine said, not really believing the words she was hearing.

Elena was already gone.

Katherine knew that Stefan would only end up getting pissed off at her in the end, if she didn't tell him right now

She went back into the dream.

"_Stefan, I'm fine. Elena just showed up, that's why I cut out. You need to wake up now. Elena just left here crying and pissed off. Hurry up and wake up."_

Stefan's eyes opened quickly. "What's wrong? What happened? Is she okay?" he asked.

"She just told me to tell you that she can't do this anymore."

"What do you mean?" Stefan asked, dread taking over him.

"I think she's about to break up with you."


	49. Chapter 49

**o****-0-o-0-o Thanks so much to Stelena, laugh4life, David Fishwick, Marie, celia, Hooked-On-TVD for the reviews. They are very much appreciated. I've said this before but I'll say it again, just because things turn out one way now, it doesn't mean that they're going to stay that way in the story. Chapter 49 is here. Lol random fact for you guys, I cried when I wrote this. Please leave me a review and let me know what you think. I love to hear from you o-0-o-0-o**

Stefan practically flew out of the tomb as soon as Katherine said what she said. He had to find Elena. He had to fix whatever was wrong. He couldn't lose Elena.

o-o-o-o-o-o-o

Caroline had followed Tyler home- yeah, she knew it was stalker-ish, but she couldn't get rid of the feeling that Tyler had been keeping something from her. She wanted to see if she was just crazy or if something really was up. She had turned her phone onto silent because she didn't want to suddenly be found out because her phone started to ring.

She stood around, absentmindedly twirling her hair, hiding and waiting- she didn't really even know what she was waiting for. She just wanted to know what was up with Tyler.

o-o-o-o-o-o-o

Caroline wasn't answering her phone, and Bonnie hadn't answered hers yet either. Elena walked up to Bonnie's doorstep anyway, and she knocked."Bonnie," she called out. "Open up, please."

Elena was a little surprised when Damon appeared.

"Are you okay?"Damon asked her, worried.

"I'm fine," she said, lying. "I just need somewhere to think. Stefan will check my place and yours first to look for me. If Stefan comes by, don't tell him that I'm here, please. I need a bit of time to myself. Where's Bonnie?"

"It's pretty obvious everything's not fine if you're avoiding my brother," Damon said, moving aside so she could walk in. "She's sleeping upstairs...What happened?" Damon asked her.

"Don't worry about it, I really just need some uninterrupted time to think... Something smells good," Elena said, walking into the kitchen. "You're cooking?"

Damon rolled his eyes at her avoidance of the question. "I made a deal with Bon-Bon. I make supper for her and her dad and she'll owe me. Witches owing you a favour is always good," Damon said grinning half-heartedly, trying to figure out what was wrong with Elena.

Elena didn't even have the energy to laugh. "Have fun," she said, giving him a small smile, heading upstairs to Bonnie's room.

Elena opened the door, and Bonnie's eyes opened.

"It's just me," Elena said, quietly. "Go back to sleep. Being around you usually calms me down. That would help me right now. Do you mind if I just lie down here for a bit and think?"

Bonnie rubbed her eyes and patted the spot next to her on her bed.

Elena plopped down next to her friend.

"What happened?" Bonnie asked tiredly.

"Seriously, just go back to sleep. Don't worry about me. I don't even really understand what's going on right now. I just need to relax and think. Don't worry, I'm not going to do anything stupid. I'll tell you what's up later, I promise."

"Okay," Bonnie said, giving Elena's hand a little squeeze, eyes closing again.

Elena took a deep breath. She was going to think about her and Stefan and Katherine, but what would be different this time, and what _needed_ to be different this time was the _way_ she was going to run everything through her mind. She needed to take her emotions out of it. She needed to keep her personal feelings out of looking at everything. She needed to look at everything differently instead of just thinking of things with hurt feelings. She needed to see what things really looked like.

She closed her eyes and started running facts through her head.

_What do I know about Stefan? What do I know about Katherine? What do I know about everything that has happened? Start from the beginning. _

o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o

Jules watched Caroline from a distance, as Caroline watched Tyler's house from a distance.

_It's only a matter of hours now. Soon enough she's going to be drowning in tears- her and that stupid witch who fried my brain._

Jules smiled at the thought. She knew that Tyler had ultimately left her because of loyalty to Caroline, that stupid girl.

o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o

Stefan was knocking on Elena's door, hoping she was at home. He needed to talk to her right away.

"Elena," he called out. "You here?"

He kept knocking.

"Come on, answer the door please," he said, wanting to pull at his hair.

"She's not here, man," Jeremy said, opening up the door, and closing it behind him because he was leaving to meet Matt for the concert. "What's wrong? Do I need to be worried about her?"

"You don't need to be worried about her right now. I just really need to talk to her," Stefan said, heading to his own house, hoping she was there. But she wasn't.

He had called her phone many times and she hadn't answered once. He called Caroline too, but she wasn't answering either. He called Bonnie and hoped she would answer. He was getting worried about Elena, and not just about her possibly leaving him. He was getting legitimately worried because she wasn't one not to answer her phone, that coupled with this weird feeling that there was some kind of danger around the corner was freaking Stefan out.

Stefan felt a tiny bit of relief when Bonnie answered her phone. She sounded like she had been sleeping.

"Hey Stefan," she said tiredly. "What's up?"

"Have you seen Elena? I really need to talk to her, and I'm actually getting a bit worried that something might have happened."

"Elena's fine, Stefan. She's not hurt or anything," Bonnie said, looking at Elena who was lying next to her.

Elena's eyes shot open at the mention of Stefan's name. She mouthed to Bonnie not to tell Stefan where she was yet. She needed more time to think.

"You saw her?" Stefan asked.

"Yeah. I promise you she's fine. She's just got a lot on her mind right now and she said she needed a bit of time and space to think."

"Bonnie, I need to see her," Stefan said desperately. "I need to talk to her."

Bonnie silently told Elena that Stefan wanted to see her and talk to her. Elena shook her head and quietly told Bonnie to tell Stefan that she would see him later. She'd go by his house.

"She's gonna come see you later, at your house. She told me to tell you that before. She'll come see you later. She's just thinking things through right now. She needs some space to think," Bonnie said as gently as she could. She could tell that something wasn't right between Stefan and Elena.

"Is she there with you Bonnie? I swear I won't come by, I'll go home and wait for her there if that's really what she wants. I just have this feeling like something dangerous is around the corner, and I need to know for sure if she's okay. If she's with you, I'll know she's fine. I swear I won't come by, I'll give her the space to think, and I won't say that you told me she's there. Please just tell me if she's with you," he asked worriedly. "Just say yes."

They must have had a fight or something because he was clearly worried about something like that. Bonnie believed that Stefan would keep his word and she didn't want him to be unnecessarily extra worried about Elena.

"Yes, Stefan."

"Thank you, Bonnie," Stefan said quietly, hanging up the phone.

o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o

Caroline wanted to smack herself upside the head when she saw Tyler coming out of his house with a huge duffel bag. It wasn't fully closed and she saw that there were chains inside.

The chains immediately made Caroline remember today's date. Tonight was the full moon. That's what had been up with Tyler. He was going to transform tonight.

Caroline cringed, remembering how Tyler had suffered the last time. It had been horrible for him. She stayed with him through it. She didn't want him to be alone then, and she didn't want him to be alone now.

Tyler got into his car, and Caroline knew where he was heading. She headed there too.

She was there before he was, so she sat down and waited for him.

He was sort of distracted when he did arrive. He didn't even notice Caroline until a minute later.

He looked very surprised to see her.

"Hey," she said, giving him a smile.

"Hey," he said back.

"I didn't remember until a few minutes ago that tonight was the full moon," Caroline said. "Want me to keep you company tonight?"

_Yes. But I don't deserve it._

"No, it's okay," Tyler told her.

"I wasn't actually asking," Caroline said, giving him a grin. "You're stuck with me."

"No Caroline, just go home. I'll be fine."

"No. I know the transformation is like torture for you. I don't want you to be alone," Caroline said. "I want to be here for you. You said that I helped you the last time by being here."

"You _did _help me, but I don't deserve your help, Caroline. Yes, the transformation is torture for me, but I deserve to feel that."

"No you don't, Tyler," Caroline told him.

"Yes I do, because you were _actually _tortured, and I stood there like a stupid coward while it happened. Did I save you? No. Was I a comfort to you? No," he said, looking anywhere but at her. "I'm really sorry. Just go, let me deal with this alone," he said, turning his back to her now, hoping she would go.

"You've already apologized, and I've already forgiven you. I don't want you to be alone," she said, getting up and walking over to him. "I'm gonna be here for you. You're not getting rid of me, Ty," she said, squeezing his hand.

Tyler wasn't a sentimental guy normally. He wasn't a big hugger either, but there was something about Caroline that brought out both things in him.

"Thank you for still caring," he said, hugging Caroline tightly. "I'm not gonna let you down again, I swear."

"I know you won't," Caroline said, hugging him back.

o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o

Damon wasn't sure how much time had passed, but his guess would be a couple hours. He had finished making the food and it smelled good- so good that even he wanted to take a bite. The pasta and sauce looked great and the chicken looked even better.

Bonnie came down the stairs looking more awake than before.

"That actually smells freakin' awesome, Damon," Bonnie commented.

"A compliment from the Judgey one- I'm so flattered," he said, leaning against the counter. "You sleep enough?" he asked her.

"I could do with more, but I think I'm awake enough to have a coherent conversation and not have my eyes start to close every two minutes," Bonnie said, grabbing a spoon to dip in the sauce that Damon made.

Damon waited for her reaction as she put the spoon in her mouth.

"This sucks," she told him.

He was actually kind of offended.

"You don't have to be a bitch about it," he told her, and then Bonnie grinned.

"I'm kidding, ding-dong," she said. "It's delicious."

"That's more like it," Damon said.

"So even though you're making me owe you a favour for this- thanks," Bonnie said, leaning back against the fridge.

"No prob, witchy," Damon said. "You have any idea what's up with Stefan and Elena?"

Bonnie shook her head.

"Seems like there's some trouble in paradise," Damon commented.

"Kind of," Bonnie admitted. "I hope not, though."

Damon didn't respond. He kind of looked like he was lost in his own thoughts about Stefan and Elena, and Bonnie wasn't sure that that was a good thing if things weren't going well between his brother and Elena.

"What's going through your head right now?" she asked him.

"I'm plotting on how to make my brother's girlfriend mine," Damon said dramatically, and Bonnie couldn't help but laugh a little bit.

He must have figured out that that's what she was thinking. "Don't worry Bon-Bon, I'm not going to try to make whatever the hell's wrong with those two worse."

"Good," she said.

"Alrighty, you've got delicious food now, and now it's time for me to go find some food of my own," Damon said, heading for the door.

"Damon-"

"Damon, even though you're my friend now, if you kill some girl tonight I'll have to end you once and for all-please don't do that because I don't actually want to have to have to kill you," Damon said, imitating Bonnie. He flashed her a grin and headed out the door.

Bonnie just rolled her eyes.

o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o

Elena stood at the door to Stefan's house, trying to control her breathing. She'd only just left Bonnie's house. She'd been there for hours, just lying down and thinking. Elena's heart felt so heavy, but she wasn't angry anymore. She saw a bigger, clearer picture when she looked at things differently than she had before.

Her heart was breaking at the moment, but the anger was pretty much gone.

She wasn't ready for this. She didn't know how she was going to do this. She was about to open the door, but Stefan was already there, doing that from the inside.

"Hey," she said quietly, walking in.

"Hi," he said, already worried.

"I know you went to see Katherine again. You've gone to see her a lot lately. Too much for me, Stefan. You know I'm not comfortable with that. It's really hard for me to deal with," Elena said softly to Stefan. "You said her name in your sleep. You were asking where she was."

"It's nothing, Elena. Nothing is happening with her, I promise. I wouldn't do that to you. I _love _you," Stefan told her, trying to keep himself calm.

"I know you wouldn't do that to me. I know that I get jealous, and sometimes I get a little bit scared, and sometimes I'll think for a second or two that something could be developing again, but I actually _know_ you wouldn't cheat on me- not that you even could with her right now, not while she's in there," she said with a sad smile.

"I love you, Elena. You have to know that," Stefan said, already fearing that certain words were soon going to come out of her mouth. He feared that Katherine's assumption was going to turn into reality.

"I _do _know that, and I love you too- _so much_," she said, practically whispering, running her hand down the side of his face. "Shit," she cursed, turning away, trying to wipe her eyes. She had started to cry, and she didn't want to cry in front of him right now.

"This is too familiar. Do not leave me, Elena. Don't. _Please_," Stefan said, turning her to face him once again, wiping the tears from her face. "What do you need from me? Just tell me. Do you want to know why I go down there? Do you want to know why you heard me say her name?" Stefan said desperately, water starting to pool in his own eyes.

"Stefan, it won't change anything right now, but yes, if you still would be willing to tell me, then yes, I would like to know," Elena said.

"I was talking to her before you got there. She was talking to me in my dream, okay, and then she just cut out. I thought something had happened. Sometimes my dreams are the safest way for me and her to talk in case Elijah shows up or whatever... I didn't think that you would believe me before because I've kind of brought it up a bunch of times and you never really believed it, and this was something really important, something that we can't afford to mess up. I've had to play things really carefully, to be ready for anything. Katherine has been a help... This is the truth, Elena. Believe this, okay. I know you trust Elijah, but you can't. You need to believe me. He's been lying to you. He's still working with Klaus. He doesn't want to protect you, he just wants to keep you put until Klaus comes around. He told Katherine and then he compelled her to forget, or so he thought. His compulsion hasn't worked on her in quite awhile. But she's got a plan, and it'll save you and everyone else," Stefan said quietly.

"It has something to do with white ash wood, doesn't it?" Elena said, just as quietly. "I started to remember."

"Remember?" Stefan said. "She thought you just didn't believe her and that's why you never mentioned it."

Elena shook her head. "I just remembered it today, but the day I fell and smacked my head, before I'd seen you and told you that I was really tired, I had been talking to her. It was quite the talk, too... When I saw you I was still trying to figure her out, to figure out if she was just trying to send us all on a wild goose chase to just keep us occupied until Klaus came around and she could offer us up to him. I wanted to do some research about white ash wood and think about my conversation with her a bit more before I told you guys.

"At first I believed her, but then you and Damon popped into my head saying that all she ever did was lie, but in the end I decided that I believed her and that I was going to talk to you guys. When I called you that night saying that we all needed to get together the next day, it was about the white ash wood."

"You believed her when none of us would have," Stefan said.

"I did," Elena said, nodding. "Like I said, we had quite the talk. I learned some things. But ultimately, one of the reasons for me believing that she had a plan to destroy Klaus and that she didn't actually want to hand me over to him came down to me putting myself in her shoes, kind of... I don't know if I'm supposed to tell you all this, but what the hell- she told me that she's loved 3 people in her life and she clarified that she still loves 3 people, that this love hasn't faded or gone away," Elena sighed.

"She said that those three people were her mother, her daughter, and you and said that I was connected to every one of them... I had been asking her pretty much since I walked in the tomb if she hated me, and a little bit before she finally answered me, there was this random moment where she told me about her not looking at all like her mother, except for the eyes. She had her mom's eyes and since I look exactly like her, I have her mom's eyes too," Elena explained.

"After a minute or two, she finally told me that she didn't hate me. She hated that I was with you and she made it clear that if and when we all made it through everything that she was gonna fight to get you back, but she didn't hate me. She said like it or not, that I was hers- that I was her blood and that I carried on her bloodline. She said when she looks in my eyes, she sees her mother and she told me that she's generally been looking out for me my whole life. I believed she wanted to keep me safe, because if I was her, I'm pretty sure that even if I didn't have any love for this descendant, the fact that she came from my line, from one of the three people I loved, I would at least want to keep them safe, even if it was only a matter of keeping the family line alive or it being a matter of pride... So Stefan, now that I remember my previous decision to believe her, I _do_ believe you when you say that Elijah's lying, and I'll work with you and her and whoever, but I really do need you and me to be over, not just for me, but for you too."

"Elena, _please_-"

"I'm gonna love you _forever_, Stefan Salvatore," Elena said, tears freely flowing from her eyes.

"You know it's gonna be the same for me," he answered desperately. "Don't do this."

"I need you to know that I really do know that you love me. I _promise _you that I know that. I don't ever want you to think that somehow you weren't good enough to me and that you didn't show me enough how much you loved me. Do you remember when you told me that you would die for me?" she asked him, not even bothering to wipe away the tears, because they just kept flowing.

All he could do was nod. He didn't think he could even form a sentence right now.

"I _know_ you meant that. You've been good to me, Stefan, always made me feel loved and cherished. But things are a bit different now," Elena said, practically choking on the words.

"Why are they different? How are they different?" Stefan asked, rubbing his eyes.

"I might be completely wrong, but I think I've got it right. Some of this is my theory and some of this is fact, but it all comes to the same thing in the end... I think that when you became a vampire and learned that Katherine had compelled you to not be afraid of her, you believed that _everything_ was because of compulsion, that everything was a game to her- that she was only using you and that she never loved you, that she only ever lied to you. I think that it really got stuck in your head that she never loved you, so in turn you convinced yourself that you never loved her, that she used compulsion to make you love her and not just to take away your fear- and with that you made yourself hate her. If you hated her, it would hurt you less, your heart wouldn't be so broken over her death, you wouldn't have to mourn her. I also think that Damon might have been a big motivation in you getting on a path of hatred for Katherine," she said, taking a breath.

"As I've heard the story, you're pretty much the reason that Damon became a vampire, but Damon hadn't wanted this life, not without Katherine. I think you felt horrible about how much Damon hated what you two had become. I kind of think you pushed down or distorted your own feelings of sadness and loss and love for Katherine because you couldn't take back Damon becoming a vampire, but maybe you could take back your feelings for Katherine and that somehow that could make things better. That's what I think. I think that was a little part of the hate you had for her. I could be wrong, but I'm pretty sure I'm right about at least some of that," she said.

"For close to a hundred and fifty years, you've been walking around hating Katherine, or trying to hate her because you believed she never loved you. You thought that she was playing around with you and never gave a damn, and hating her was easy because she was gone, but she's _not_ gone anymore, Stefan."

"That doesn't matter, Elena," Stefan said, reaching for her hand, hoping that he'd wake up and find out that this conversation was just a really horrible dream.

"It _does._ It really does," she said, absentmindedly rubbing his hand. "She's back, she's real and she's telling you she loves you and you remember the past with her, and your memories start to come back to you, and in them you remember her loving you and you remember yourself loving her. She keeps saying that she loves you, and it's bound to crack the hate eventually, and it _did_. And honestly, I don't think there's anyway it _couldn't_ have cracked," Elena said, biting her lip, asking God to give her the strength to get through this conversation without having a complete breakdown.

"Oh yeah," Elena laughed sadly. "She told me to send you her love... As much as any of us want to say that she's a horrible bitch who loves no one but herself, she _does_ love you, Stefan. I _know_ she does. You didn't see her when she was talking about you. Her feelings are real, they were always real. And let's be honest here, why _wouldn't_she love you? Sometimes you don't see yourself very clearly, you are _very_ easy to love. The hard part is trying _not_ to love you."

"Okay, so maybe she loves me and okay, I don't hate her like I used to. I get along with her again because she's actually showing that there is more inside of her than just evil, but that doesn't mean that I love her, Elena. I love _you,_" Stefan told her, squeezing his eyes shut for a moment, trying to keep more tears away.

Elena pulled him down to her to kiss him one more time. "You do love me. That's _not_ in question. But because you love me, I think you're kind of killing yourself right now. You don't only go see her because you feel sorry for her or to talk about Elijah and Klaus, even if that's what you tell yourself... Because you're trying to stay loyal to me and because you love me, you're breaking inside. You're not letting yourself love her, because you love _me_ and you don't ever want to hurt me- but in the end this is hurting the both of us."

"I don't want you to hurt, and me- I'm not hurting," Stefan said weakly.

"Yeah you are. This hurts Stefan, but I'm not mad at you. I _don't_ hate you, it just hurts because I know she's still with you, but I can't even blame you for that. You try to convince yourself that you hated her and cover up how much you loved her. You went so long believing that she didn't love you, but you have to see by now that she does. Any idiot could tell that she does. You see that she loves you, and a hundred and fifty years worth of hate has to make very little sense, and the old feelings that never really went away- that just got turned into something else- they start to come back... You love me, Stefan, but you love her too and you've been trying to ignore it and deny it," she said.

"I-"

"If you were going to say that you don't love her, it's not true, you do. I don't really think you know it, but you do love her. At the very least, you're confused. You need to come to terms with your feelings and you need to deal with them, one way or another. This kills me, it feels like I'm just handing you over to her and you're supposed to be my guy- but you two aren't _done_. You're not over. I can't have you thinking, somewhere in the back of your mind- wondering _what if_. Katherine and Damon are over, _so_ over. But you and her aren't, there's still feelings floating around. You guys aren't resolved. I can't wonder if somehow she's still in the back of your mind and you know what, my hurt aside, just thinking about _you_ here, you deserve a chance to figure things out, you deserve to be able to know that she loved you, and that your life and love with her in 1864 wasn't a lie... Even if you don't choose to be with her, you need closure. You need to be sure of everything; you need to be able to say that you don't have any questions left... We can't be together anymore, Stefan."

"Elena, it's you and me. We're supposed to be together. You know we're meant for each other."

"Stop," she said quietly.

"Elena-"

"Stop," she repeated. "Stefan, stop, please."

There was silence for a moment or two.

"I'm not going to be able to convince you otherwise, am I?" He whispered, looking completely and utterly lost. He looked broken.

She shook her head, feeling sick to her stomach.

"I'm sorry that I cause you pain. I love you so much. I _never_ want to hurt you. Never. You are enough for me. I've never wanted you to be anyone else. _You_ are what I've wanted. You've been the best thing that's ever happened to me. You need to know that. I have always loved you for _you_. Me loving you has _never_ been about Katherine at all. You're leaving me, but I need you to know that. Even if you believe that I still love her- you _need _ to know that me loving you has _never _been about her, and God strike me dead right this second if I'm lying," Stefan said, trying to keep from completely breaking down.

"I know," she said, eyes shining with tears.

"We're really over?"

"Yes," she sobbed. She just couldn't control her tears, she couldn't hold them back.

"Forever?" he choked. His world was falling down.

"I don't know," she said, clutching her stomach. This hurt, physically and emotionally.

"So what do you want- you want me to go running to her? And then what- you're gonna run to my brother, aren't you?" Stefan said, barely able to get the last part off of his tongue. "Do you love him, too?"

"Stefan, I love you, I always did. You've always been insecure about that. I've always wanted you. I wasn't carrying a secret torch for your brother. You need to know that."

Stefan gave a weak nod.

"I care about him. He's important to me, but we've never been anything besides friends. I don't know what will happen- for any of us, but do not _ever_ think that I would leave you and then jump to your brother two seconds later. All I know is that what you and me need to always remember is that whatever does happen in the future- our love was and will always be real and beautiful."

Stefan took her face in his hands one last time and kissed her lips softly. "Look at me," he said. "I'm not going to let _anything_ happen to you. Elijah and Klaus are not going to get you. We're all gonna work together and we're going to beat them, but even after this whole Klaus/sacrifice/curse crap is over with, if you _ever_ need me, you tell me and I will be right there. I will be there in a second. I promise you I will always be here for you, _always._The love is never going to go away."

"Same goes for you with me," she said, and then she couldn't take it anymore- she ran out of his house.

She knew they needed to talk about Klaus and the white ash wood, but she couldn't do it right now, at least not just with him and her. Tomorrow she'd wrangle everyone together and she'd pull herself together too. Right now, all she could do was cry.


	50. Chapter 50

**o-0-o-0-o Thank you so much Stelena lover, laugh4life, Anna-Lisa, Raya, celia, Marie, Hooked-On-TVD and David Fishwick for the reviews. I killed some hearts last chapter including my own lol, and I think I might be killing some more hearts in this chapter for a different reason. Anna-Lisa, I wouldn't call you crazy for thinking the way you do lol but that's all I'm gonna say on that. Chapter 50 is here. Chapter 50! Thanks for supporting me so far with this story and I hope you guys will stick around with me until the end because I've still got more story to tell. Hope you'll enjoy the chapter. Please leave me a review and let me know what you think o-0-o-0-o**

Stefan took a deep breath and wiped his eyes with one hand, as he smashed a hole through the wall with the other.

The best thing in his life was gone. She left him. He felt lost and confused and desperate. Something truly felt broken inside of him, and he didn't think it could be fixed.

When his mother had died, he was only 4 years old. He had loved her so much, but it was his fault she was dead. She had jumped into that freezing lake to save him from drowning. That's probably when this all started. He was 4 years old was when he started to ruin, kill and lose the people he loved in one way or other. Mother, Father, Katherine, Damon, Lexi and now Elena.

He would rather be stuck in that well full of vervain with it burning away at his skin slowly and painfully than be here wondering how in the hell he'd just lost the girl he loved.

Stefan wished for physical pain right now, that would be _so _much better than this.

With the thought of pain in his head, his mind flew back to the bad feeling he had had earlier, and ran out after Elena.

She may have just broken up with him, but he wasn't letting her walk home alone at night when he had been feeling what he felt earlier on. He had felt like there was danger in the air, and he didn't want danger anywhere near Elena.

He caught up with her in a flash. She immediately wiped her eyes, not wanting Stefan to see her cry more than he had already seen. She didn't want to make him feel worse than he was already feeling.

"Go home Stefan. I'll see you tomorrow," she said quietly.

"You don't have to talk to me. You don't even have to look at me if you don't want to, but I've had a feeling like there's some serious danger around the corner and I don't want you out here alone right now."

"Fine," she said weakly.

Elena walked as quickly as she could, clutching at her stomach. Her body was aching, as if the pain she was feeling in her heart had spread throughout the rest of her. She also felt sick to her stomach. If she threw up soon, she wouldn't be surprised. This break-up was taking its toll on her physically and emotionally.

This walk home with Stefan might just be the most uncomfortable walk she'd ever taken. Stefan, her heart, her love, her no-longer-boyfriend- was next to her, and she tried not to look at him. This hurt so badly.

"Are you okay, Elena?" Stefan asked, concerned. Elena was in pain and he could tell. "We can stop for a minute if you want."

"I'm fine, Stefan. I don't want to stop. The sooner I get home, the better," she said, trying not to look at him.

"Okay," Stefan said quietly.

Elena trying to look anywhere but at him was almost too much for him to take. Those eyes, those eyes that he loved- they wouldn't meet his and he broke a little more inside.

She saw him looking at her out of the corner of her eye, and she felt her heart break a little bit more, too. He looked hurt by her avoidance of eye contact.

"It'll be better tomorrow, Stefan. It just hurts too much right now. If I look at you right now, the tears are gonna come and they're not gonna stop. I don't wanna cry anymore tonight, and I don't want you to, either."

Stefan nodded, closing his eyes for a second.

o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o

Bonnie called her father's cell phone for the sixth time in half an hour. Her dad should have been here awhile ago and he still hadn't arrived. He wasn't answering his phone.

"Maybe he just lost his phone and the car broke down or something... That's got to be it. He said he was already in Mystic Falls. He said he'd be here in ten minutes. It's already been half an hour. I'm gonna go look for him," Bonnie said out loud.

Bonnie went outside and only then remembered that her car was in the garage because something was wrong with it.

"Bullshit!" she muttered.

Bonnie picked her phone up again, and this time she dialled Caroline.

"Hello," Caroline answered quietly.

"Hey Care. Can you do me a favour babe?" Bonnie asked. "What the hell was that noise?"

"Give me a second, I can't hear you. Let me get out of here and then say that again," Caroline said, leaving Tyler's full-moon werewolf prison.

When she got back out into the fresh night air she could no longer hear Tyler's wolf snarls and howls. Tyler was grateful for her presence during the transformation, but after it was complete, he didn't want her to be there. Tyler had insisted that she leave when he actually transformed into the wolf, and she was respecting his wish, "Okay, I can hear now. Can you say that again?"

"Where the hell are you? What was that sound? Are you okay?" Bonnie asked, now concerned for her friend.

"I'm fine. I was with Tyler. It's the full moon tonight. That was wolfy-Tyler you heard. But I'm out of there now, so what's up?"

"My dad's supposed to be here by now and he's not, and he's not answering his phone either. I'm getting worried and I want to go look for him, but my car is in the garage. Would you mind either lending me your car or driving around with me? He must have lost his phone or something. His car probably broke down."

"I'll be there really soon, okay?" Caroline said. "I'll grab the car and meet you at your place."

"Thanks Care," Bonnie said, trying not to worry about her dad.

o-o-o-o-o-o-o

It served Damon very well, so he wasn't complaining- he'd just gotten quite a nice little snack out of it, but he wondered how some girls could be so completely and utterly stupid. He had barely said a whole sentence to the girl who ended up becoming his snack, a snack that he didn't kill, before she was following him out the door of the bar and into an alley. This wasn't new to Damon, sometimes he just wondered, though, how some people could be so stupid as to follow a stranger into a dark alley. Sure, he knew he was hot, but still, people were dumb.

He found his thoughts wandering to Elena and Stefan and to what was going on with them. Elena hadn't been happy earlier, and he wanted to know what was up. He decided to head to her house even though it was late. He wanted to see if she was alright.

o-o-o-o-o-o

Stefan didn't bother heading back to his house after he brought Elena to hers. He just kept on walking. He'd been walking for about half an hour now.

He was still hoping to wake up at any moment and find out that he'd only been having a nightmare. He didn't know what to do. He didn't know how not to be with Elena. Even when they'd broken up the last time, deep down he knew it wasn't really over between them, but now, he really didn't know if he was ever going to get Elena back and that hurt like hell.

"Shit Caroline, that's my dad's car. Oh God. Daddy, are you there? Please tell me you're okay."

That was Bonnie's voice. Stefan changed his direction and went to find Bonnie and Caroline.

"B, don't panic yet. Let's get closer to see," Caroline said, trying to calm her friend.

"Oh my God!" Bonnie screamed.

Stefan didn't walk now, he ran to see what was wrong.

And then Bonnie screamed again. "No, no, no! No. Please, no."

Stefan arrived to see both Caroline and Bonnie on there knees. Bonnie was sobbing, and Caroline's jaw was dropped open as tears fell down her face.

Stefan's heart sunk again. Oh good God, this could not be happening. This couldn't be real, but he knew that it was.

"They're dead," Caroline choked out, finally noticing Stefan.

Matt, Jeremy, and Bonnie's father all lay on the ground, bloody and murdered.

Stefan was sure that Caroline must have already checked, but he did so anyway. He checked heartbeats, and there were none.

When he took a closer look, his anger rose even more. Jeremy and Matt each had one arm literally ripped off of them. Jeremy's was the one that held the finger that wore the Gilbert ring- the one that would have saved him from a supernatural death.

Caroline was pulling on her hair as she continued to cry.

Bonnie had gone silent now. The tears still rolled down her cheeks, but se didn't make a sound anymore. She couldn't take her eyes off the 3 bodies.

"Stefan, this isn't real, right? We're gonna wake up, aren't we? This isn't real," Caroline said desperately, clutching at his hand.

"Bonnie! Where are you? Are you okay?" That was Elena's voice.

"What the hell are you doing out here, Bennett?" Damon yelled. "What's wrong?"

And then everything happened so quickly.

Something lunged at Caroline and knocked her to the ground. A _wolf_ knocked her to the ground. Stefan had completely forgotten about the full moon tonight.

All Stefan could think at that moment was the promise he had made to Caroline to never let anything happen to her. He wasn't going to break that promise.

The wolf was about to sink its teeth into Caroline's neck, but Stefan lunged at the creature, knocking it away from the blonde vampire.

"What the fuck!" Damon yelled, and then the wolf turned to him.

If it was possible for a wolf to grin, that's what Damon would say it just did.

And then recognition hit Damon. He'd seen this wolf before. This was the bitch that bit Rose! This was Jules, he'd bet anything on it.

"Jules, you're gonna pay for this _and_ Rose, you bitch," Damon sneered. "I do believe I told you you'd be dead if you came back here."

It was only when Elena made it over to everyone and let out a shriek of agony that Bonnie snapped out of her daze. She looked from the wolf who was snarling, to the three bodies of people she loved and a hate of epic proportions rose up inside of her. This thing had been the one to kill them.

The wolf stalked toward Damon, and Stefan yelled at Elena to move. Elena wasn't hearing anything, she couldn't stop looking down at the dead bodies, she couldn't move. Stefan rushed to her and moved her beside Caroline.

Damon and the wolf looked like they were playing a game, very slowly getting closer to one another. Damon smirked and then the wolf that was Jules lunged at him.

Damon threw her off and snarled, and then _he _ lunged at the wolf.

Stefan felt his own sadness over the deaths at the moment, but it could nowhere near compare to what any of the girls were feeling. All three of them were still crying.

He tried to squeeze Elena's hand in some effort to comfort her, but she was lost in her own world of grief right now, as were Bonnie and Caroline.

Bonnie was still crying, but she looked completely focused on something. She was glaring at the wolf.

Jules growled and started snapping her jaws at Damon, getting dangerously close to biting him.

Stefan went to his brother and threw the wolf off, trying to avoid getting too close to her teeth. A bite from a werewolf would ultimately lead to a vampire's death, one way or another.

"Oh come on, I had her," Damon said.

"Oh yeah, the wolf was about to sink her teeth into you. You really had her," Stefan said, pulling Damon up.

"Let's kill her together then," Damon said. "Look what she did. Look what the bitch did. It's time she dies."

"I agree," Stefan said.

And then out of nowhere Caroline was flying towards Jules with a huge rock in her hand, fangs bared.

Jules and Caroline collided, and Caroline smashed the rock into the wolf's side. Damon and Stefan ran to Caroline and the three vampires prepared to kill the wolf once and for all. But it wasn't any of the three vampires that ultimately made the wolf start writhing on the ground.

All three vampires turned to Bonnie who had a look of pure hatred on her face. Her eyes were locked on Jules, and soon the wolf wasn't just writhing in pain, soon blood started to seep through the fur. Bonnie was trying to kill her, and it looked like she was going to succeed.

Bonnie's nose started to bleed as a police siren was heard. Someone must have called the cops, either because they saw something or because of the screaming.

Bonnie finally came out of what seemed like a trance when she heard the sirens.

Bonnie hadn't killed Jules in the end, she came close but the sirens that said police were arriving threw her off. In the end, it was Damon, with the gun of the Sheriff, Caroline's mother, who finished off Jules. Of course she had no idea that it wasn't just a wolf getting shot, she had no idea Jules was a werewolf.

Liz Forbes had run out of her car and saw three dead bodies- three dead bodies of people she knew, and she saw three girls with tear-stained faces. Damon and Stefan stood over a wolf that looked very close to death.

"Are you all okay?" Liz asked. "Physically, I mean?"

None of the girls answered. Their eyes were on the dead.

"What happened here?"

Stefan and Damon looked at each other, deciding that they'd cover the story of what happened, leaving the supernatural out of it.

"We were out walking, and Bonnie and Caroline were in the car and we just came across this," Stefan said.

"They were dead when we got here, and then this thing came back, mouth all bloody. It killed them. We need to get rid of it," Damon told the older woman.

She nodded.

"Let me do it," Damon said. "Give me the gun. I'll end it. You make sure the girls are okay. They haven't said a word."

Liz would never hand off her gun, but this was Damon who'd helped her out many times. She gave him the gun, and went to the girls.

She went to her own daughter first.

"Are you hurt at all?" she asked, taking Caroline's hands in hers.

Liz felt horrible for her daughter. Her boyfriend was dead.

Caroline shook her head weakly as Damon fired the gun and killed Jules once and for all.

Her boyfriend, the sweetest boy she knew, a boy she loved was dead. The brother of one of her best friends was dead. The father of her other best friend was too.

"Elena, sweetheart?" Liz said, putting her hand on Elena's shoulder.

Liz felt horrible, Elena hadn't lost her parents all that long ago, and now her little brother was dead.

Elena shook her head, and then tried to move away from the group as quickly as possible. She was going to throw up. Her childhood friend and ex-boyfriend, who happened to be the current boyfriend of one of her best friends was dead. Her other best friend's father was dead. Her brother was dead. Jeremy- her little brother was gone, and nothing was ever going to be right again. There was only pain and sadness.

"Bonnie, honey, you're bleeding,' Liz said gently.

Liz looked at her daughter's best friend and she felt heart-broken for her. Bonnie didn't have much in the way of family after her grandmother died, and now along with her cousin Lucy, Bonnie's father was dead, too. Bonnie was pretty much completely alone now.

"It's just a stupid nose-bleed," Bonnie choked out.

Matt, sweet Matty- her friend since early childhood was dead. Jeremy- her Jeremy was dead. Her dad was dead. There was pretty much no family left. Bonnie felt like she was being stabbed repeatedly. There was only pain.

Damon and Stefan looked at the three girls who were usually quite full of life, faces strewn with tears, and they felt helpless. There was nothing that could be done for them right now.

Stefan's heart had been breaking all night, and it was only getting worse. Elena had already been suffering tonight, and now this was just too much. She shouldn't have to go through this too. None of these girls should have to go through this.

"Elena, do you want me to call your aunt and uncle?" Liz asked, going over to her.

Elena shook her head. She pulled out her phone and stared at it for a minute. She stomped her foot and squeezed her eyes shut to try to stop crying. She didn't want to be crying when she talked to Jenna and John.

There was nothing good about this night, not one single thing. The only thing that had a part in it that wasn't entirely horrible was when John arrived and Elena literally ran into his arms and hugged him with whatever was left of the strength she had.

John let his tears fall freely. He let them fall for his poor nephew and he let them fall because he just got something he had wanted for a long time- he just wanted to get to hold his daughter close to him.


	51. Chapter 51

**o-0-o-0-o Thanks so much to Stelena lover, Marie, Tina, Angell4NEPatriots, celia, David Fishwick, VampireChick48, laugh4life, Raya and Hooked-On-TVD for leaving reviews. And thanks to those who have favourited the story, too. Chapter 51 is here. Hope you'll enjoy it. Please leave me a review and let me know what you think o-0-o-0-o**

Jenna and John were speaking to the coroner as the bag was zippered up with Jeremy in it. Elena screamed at the sight. "Don't do that! Why are you doing that?"

Whatever was left of Stefan's heart broke yet again.

"Elena, they have to," Stefan said softly, giving her hand a gentle squeeze.

Elena shoved his hand away from her. "No they don't. He's gonna be fine. He's supposed to come home with me," Elena wept, practically charging at the coroner.

"Come here, come here," Damon said, stopping Elena, grabbing her in a hug. She struggled and tried to get away, but Damon held her firmly, until she completely gave up even trying to move. She had no energy left, all she had were tears.

"I want my brother," she whispered.

Matt's body bag got zippered closed and Caroline quite literally bled. Her lips and hands were bleeding. Her lips bled from how hard she had been biting on them- trying to keep even more tears away. Her hands were bleeding from how she had dug her nails into them in an effort to dull some of the emotional pain with some physical pain instead.

"Easy baby, easy," Liz Forbes said gently, moving Caroline's hands away from each other.

The bag had closed on Jeremy, and Bonnie could feel the bile in her throat. And then the bag had closed on her father and Bonnie couldn't take it anymore. Bonnie ran. Bonnie ran straight for the woods and didn't stop. She needed to get far away from there.

Bonnie could hardly see anything as she ran because her tears were blurring her vision, but she didn't care. She hoped she would fall from running with blurred vision. Bonnie wanted to feel something other than grief. Pain would be great right about now.

Bonnie ran, and ran and ran until she couldn't run any more. She ran so long and so far that she had no clue where she was.

She was lost and she didn't give a damn. Her knees had nearly buckled two seconds earlier, but Bonnie was kicking at the nearest tree anyway. That did nothing for her.

She made a fist with her hand and smashed it into the tree. That was a little better. That had hurt. That was good. There was blood gushing from her hand now, and she looked down at it, nodding.

Bonnie wanted to yell. She just needed to scream. She needed to let everything out.

Bonnie closed her eyes and yelled as loudly as her voice would go. There were no words, it was just screaming.

And then she smashed her fist into the tree again.

o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o

As much as it killed him, Elena clearly didn't need or want him right now, not when she had Damon to hold onto.

Caroline's mother was trying to soothe her.

And Bonnie just snapped and ran off.

None of those girls should be alone right now, and he was going to make sure that Bonnie wasn't.

Stefan dashed off, running after her.

He was surprised how long she ran for. It was kind of impressive in a completely tragic way. When she finally stopped running, he just stood watching for a moment, not knowing what he could say to her to make her feel any better. She'd not only lost her boyfriend, but her father too- which left Bonnie's remaining biological family ties at a number quite close to zero.

It was clear to Stefan that Bonnie wanted to feel some physical pain- probably to try to dull the other pain, the emotional one, the one that was so much worse than physical hurting.

He saw her kick the tree and look displeased. She bunched her hand up into a fist and she smashed it into the tree. He smelled the blood immediately. Bonnie looked down at her fist and she looked somewhat pleased. It was when she let out her scream of frustration and agony that Stefan just couldn't stand back anymore. He still didn't know what to say exactly, but he needed to help her some how.

She screamed and then she hit the tree again, and Stefan felt horrible for what Bonnie must be feeling.

"Bonnie," Stefan said, reaching out to her carefully, pulling her hands down so that she didn't try to hurt them again.

Bonnie looked confused. "What are you doing here, Stefan?" Bonnie asked quietly, as if she didn't have much voice left. Bonnie burst into tears again. She sounded like she was struggling to breathe.

Bonnie's heart was beating extremely fast.

Stefan reached out to the lost-looking and broken girl, and he hugged her.

She didn't return the hug, but she didn't push him away either.

"I need you to do something for me, Bonnie, okay?" Stefan said, squeezing her a little tighter.

Bonnie wiped her eyes and looked at him. "What?" she choked out.

"Just breathe," she told her.

"Breathe?" she asked, sounding like a child at the moment, a child who was struggling for breath.

"Yeah, just breathe."

So she closed her eyes and did.

"That's better," Stefan said, rubbing her back, trying anything to make Bonnie hurt a little bit less.

Bonnie kept taking slow, deep breaths and her heartbeat started to slow down to something a little bit more normal.

"I'm really sorry for your loss, Bonnie," Stefan said, hoping it wouldn't make Bonnie feel worse.

"Thank you," she said very quietly, hugging him back.

o-o-o-o-o-o-o

It was when her mom went back over to Jenna and John that she heard Bonnie's yell, the yell that finally snapped her out of her daze of misery and sadness.

Caroline grabbed Elena from Damon and ran to find Bonnie.

"That was Bonnie. Oh my God, Caroline, what happened to her?" Elena asked frantically.

If something ended up happening to Bonnie, Elena was going to die. She was going to have a complete and utter nervous breakdown and then she was going to have a heart attack. She couldn't handle anything else tonight. She couldn't lose Bonnie, too. She absolutely could not.

"She better be okay," Caroline said, scared, running with Elena in her grip with no effort at all, picturing the ways she'd tear someone apart if Bonnie was hurt..

"What the hell?" Damon said, catching up with them as Caroline tried to determine where the scream was coming from.

o-o-o-o-o-o-o

"I could heal that for you," Stefan said carefully, pointing at her hands. Her knuckles were bruised and bloody.

Bonnie just shook her head. "Feeling a little bit of pain from this is good," Bonnie said quietly.

Stefan stared at her for a moment.

"You don't have to stay here with me, Stefan," Bonnie said, taking a deep breath, taking a seat on the ground.

"If you don't mind my company, I'd like to stay."

"I don't mind at all, in fact, I appreciate it," Bonnie said, blinking her eyes furiously. She felt more tears coming on, and she didn't want to keep crying. "But I don't want to talk about what Jules did." Bonnie couldn't bring herself to say that Matt, Jeremy and her dad had been killed. She didn't want to hear hat.

"That's fine," Stefan said, sitting down next to her. He could see that Bonnie was trying to stay strong and she was trying to avoid actually thinking about what had happened, about what she lost.

"Is everything okay with you and Elena?" Bonnie asked, trying to keep her mind off of Jeremy and her father being gone. She wasn't ready to deal with that yet. She _ couldn't _deal with that yet.

Stefan tried to smile, but he couldn't. "Not really," he said, shaking his head.

"What do you mean?" Bonnie asked, cringing a little bit. She hoped Stefan wouldn't say what she thought he was going to say.

"She broke up with me."

"I'm so sorry," Bonnie said, reaching over to squeeze his hand.

"Thank you, but _please _don't worry about me. I don't matter right now, Bonnie," Stefan said, turning to look at her.

"Of course you do, Stefan," she told him. "She's my best friend, but you're my friend too. I don't want you to be sad."

"You're sweet and that actually means a lot to me to hear, but I really _don't_ matter right now. I think the only people any of us need to be concerned with right now are Elena, you and Caroline, so don't worry about me."

"I want to get some more white-ash wood soon. I want you, me and Damon to go out and get some as soon as we can. I just have to build up my energy again. I just need like a day or two-"

"Bonnie, stop, okay."

"No Stefan, we've got work to do," Bonnie said, wanting to throw herself into something, wanting to focus on anything other than the immediate and heartbreaking reality in her life, in Elena's life, in Caroline's life.

"Yeah, we do. But we've also got some time, and you need to _take _some time and breathe, because unfortunately you're only going to be able to ignore tonight for a little while. It's a disgusting reality now, but you're gonna have to deal with this new reality and it's not right or fair to you to be working so hard on other things. You take good care of the people around you, but you don't always do the greatest job of it for yourself. You're important too, Bonnie. Don't forget that."

Bonnie didn't say anything, she just bit her lip and looked down at her hands.

"Elena knows what's going on now," Stefan said, making Bonnie's head shoot back up.

"She knows Elijah's lying. She remembered her conversation with Katherine . The day she fell down the stairs, she had gone to see Katherine and she brought up the white-ash wood back then. It's kind of funny that it was Katherine that made Elena finally believe that Elijah can't be trusted."

"We're going to need to have a big group meeting or something and let Alaric and Caroline in on everything, then I've got to talk to Luka... Should we tell them that I'm getting Katherine out of the tomb?" Bonnie asked, trying so hard to keep images of Jeremy and her father out of her head.

"I don't know if Elena already pieced it together that we're going to get Katherine out... Can we not talk about Katherine right now? Every time I say or hear her name right now, all I can think of is Elena breaking up with me."

"Okay, no more Katherine talk tonight," Bonnie said.

"Bonnie!" Elena and Caroline shrieked, coming into view, racing to get to Bonnie.

"Are you in one piece, Bennett?" Damon asked, looking worried. "We heard you scream."

"I'm in one piece, Salvatore" she said quietly, just closing her eyes as Elena and Caroline pretty much tackled her. "Don't worry."

And then she heard the two girls who knew her better than anyone else sniffling. She also felt her shirt dampen. She met her friends' eyes and saw that the girls were crying again.

"We thought something happened to you," her best friends said quietly.

"No one hurt me or anything. I'm not dying," Bonnie said, trying to hold back her tears. It was almost impossible for Bonnie to stay dry-eyed when her friends cried. Their tears almost always brought on her own, and this time was no exception.

"You're not allowed to leave us," Elena and Caroline told her.

"And you're not allowed to leave me either, okay?" Bonnie said, choking on her words.

Elena and Caroline nodded.

Stefan got up and gave the girls more room.

"Thanks for coming for me, Stefan," Bonnie said, when she noticed that Stefan moved.

He tried to give her a smile and shrugged. "I got you," he said.

If anything happened to Caroline and Elena, Bonnie honestly thought that she wouldn't be able to make it through. She didn't think there'd be anything left of her at all.

When people talk about love stories, the first thing that comes to mind almost 100% of the time is romance. Platonic love is overlooked a lot of the time, but Damon Salvatore would argue that one of the greatest love stories he'd come across was a purely platonic and familial one, and it was on display before him and his brother. Elena, Bonnie and Caroline kind of had their own little epic love story.

"Company's coming," Damon said, hearing someone approaching. It was only seconds before the person came into view.

It was Isobel.

"What are you doing here?" Elena asked. "_Please _tell me that you didn't show your face to Jenna and cause a shit-storm of trouble tonight. My brother is _dead. _Her nephew is dead and I swear if you did one thing to cause my aunt trouble or pain-"

"I didn't go near her," Isobel said, looking from Elena to everyone else, feeling really weird.

"Why are you here?" Elena asked her.

"How about you just come with me for a little bit," Isobel said awkwardly. "I just want to talk to you."

Elena didn't answer her, but she was studying her face. It was pretty clear that she felt awkward and uncomfortable talking to Elena with the others really did look like she just wanted to talk to her.

"Why the hell would she go anywhere with you?" Damon asked, shooting Isobel a dirty look.

"Maybe because she's my kid- you know I did give birth to her and all," Isobel said, returning the dirty look.

"You're gonna play the mom card with her now? Pathetic," Damon said.

"Shut up, Damon," Stefan said. "Stay out of it."

Stefan had interrupted Damon because Elena looked like she might actually want to go with Isobel and talk. Stefan didn't like either of Elena's birth parents, but it was Elena's feelings that mattered. And Elena's feelings towards Isobel had been all over the place. Talking to Isobel, if that's what Elena wanted, might be really good for her, and Stefan wasn't going to let Damon put his two-cents in when his opinion didn't matter at all.

Stefan was always going to look out for Elena's happiness and peace of mind, a break-up wasn't going to change that. And Damon's and his own personal opinions on certain things, like her mother, for example wasn't going to change that either.

Elena turned to Stefan and gave him a small, grateful smile. Then she turned to Bonnie and Caroline, seemingly asking them if she should go with Isobel for a few minutes.

Bonnie and Caroline nodded their heads.

"Okay," Elena said, turning back to Isobel. "I'll come walk with you for a bit."

"Thank you," Isobel said quietly.


	52. Chapter 52

**o-0-o-0-o Thanks to Stelena lover, David Fishwick, Marie, celia and Anna-Lisa for reviewing the last chapter. And thanks to those who have favourited the story too. Chapter 52 is here. Please take a few seconds or a minute or two and leave me a review. Let me know what you think. I hope you'll like it :) o-0-o-0-o**

"I know that this is weird," Isobel said, pacing back and forth. "You and me, we don't do this whole talking thing."

"Yeah, you're right, we don't," Elena said, her eyes following Isobel.

Isobel really looked nervous and uncomfortable.

"What did you want to say to me?" Elena asked.

"I'm sorry for calling you the way I did before and telling you about your father. I should have let him tell you in his own way when he was ready. He's really mad at me for calling you... He's made it clear that he's not going to let me turn him-"

"You can't actually be surprised by that," Elena said, feeling tears come on for what felt like the millionth time that day. "Anyone who has met him would know he'd never go for it, Isobel," Elena said, trying not to sound mean.

"He's gonna die, Elena. Your father is gonna die, and I don't know what the hell I'm gonna do," Isobel said, looking more awkward and uncomfortable than Elena had ever seen. "You might resent me for making any claim on you, but the fact is that you're _mine. _You're mine in a way that you can never be anyone else's. I didn't raise you, and the people who did did a great job, but you're _my _kid... I don't know how to be your mother, but I've been looking out for you, you know? I don't want anything to happen to you-"

"_What _are you trying to say?" Elena asked, trying not to sound as emotional as she was feeling. She was so exhausted right now- emotionally and physically.

"If someone tries to hurt you- I'll _kill_ them. If you're scared of something, I'll protect you, but I don't know what to do for you right now. I don't know how to do this...I'm sorry about Jeremy."

Elena closed her eyes and took a deep breath. She gave Isobel a nod.

"John was supposed to be around for you. Sooner or later he's not going to be... I wanted to just tell you face to face that even though I can't be around very much- uh, I want you to call me or let me know if you need me for anything... Okay?"

"Okay," Elena said tiredly, sick of being angry with Isobel. If this was Isobel trying to get a clean slate with Elena, trying for something new, Elena would give it to her. She didn't want to hold on to anger, not when she was full of so much sadness and misery.

"Good," Isobel said, taking a deep breath of her own, standing up a little straighter. "John and Jenna will probably be here soon. I saw them walking a few minutes ago. I'm pretty sure they're looking for you."

"Okay," Elena said.

"Come on, I'll walk you back to your little group," Isobel said, starting to walk back to Stefan, Damon, Bonnie and Caroline.

o-o-o-o-o-o-o

"I can't believe you wanted her to go with Isobel," Damon said angrily to Stefan. "Aren't you supposed to be in love with Elena? Why the hell are you so gung-ho on her hanging out with that psycho bitch?"

"It's not about what I want, you moron," Stefan answered back, trying not to let his temper get the better of him. "Isobel very well may be a bitch, but she's a bitch who happens to be Elena's mother."

"You should hate her," Damon said.

"I can't stand the woman, but it doesn't matter. Who the hell cares what I feel or what you feel? This is about Elena. The parents she grew up with are dead, her brother is now dead. Her biological father is gonna be dead soon, too. Her mother comes around and wants to talk to her, and if Elena wants to see her, to actually talk to her, who the hell am I or you to say two words about it? Maybe she needs Isobel, did you ever think of that? Maybe she actually wants her mother, did that ever cross your mind? And I'm going to say this one time, Damon, do you understand me? Don't you _ever _question my love for Elena. I'm _always _going to try to do the thing that's best for her, the thing that's gonna make her happy regardless of what my feelings are, regardless if she's mine anymore or not," Stefan said, practically growling, trying to keep himself under control. He wanted to kick Damon's ass right now.

Before Stefan knew what was going on, Caroline was taking his hand and pulling him away, and Bonnie was trying to push Damon away also.

"Stefan, hey, come on. It's okay. Just relax," Caroline said gently, rubbing his hand.

Stefan rubbed his temples and took a breath.

"I'm sorry. You and Bonnie don't need to see this right now. You don't need to deal with this right now. You just lost Matt. I shouldn't be like this, not when you just went through hell tonight. I'm sorry, _so _ sorry about Matt," he said, shaking his head.

"It's alright, Stefan," Caroline said, giving him a hug, rubbing his back a bit, trying to calm him down. "It's okay," she said, trying not to cry when thinking about Matt again.

Caroline didn't know what went down tonight, but Stefan's comment left Caroline with a bad feeling. Were Stefan and Elena over?

"Damon, don't bother answering back. You leave him alone," Bonnie said quietly. "Don't fight with your brother, especially now. Hasn't there been enough bad shit tonight? I don't really have the energy to explain to Elena why you two are still at each other's throats. Let's be honest, I don't really have the energy to be standing on my feet right now. Please just keep quiet. We don't need to deal with fighting along with all this death tonight."

Damon looked down at Bonnie. She looked smaller than usual. She looked like she'd been drained of all of her energy. She looked like she was trying very hard to keep herself held together. She was suffering now, possibly even more than Elena and Caroline, and Damon didn't like seeing her so down.

"I'll be good, Bon-Bon."

"Good." Bonnie exhaled, sighing with relief, as she started to walk back towards Caroline and Stefan.

Damon stopped her before she got far. He grasped her wrist. "I wanna say something to you," he said quietly.

"What?" she asked, looking a bit confused.

"You're gonna be okay, Bennett. This shit sucks really bad and I'm sorry because I know this is killing you, but you're tough. You're one of the strongest people I've ever met. You're gonna be okay," Damon said, whispering in Bonnie's ear.

Bonnie looked up at him and managed a genuine smile.

"You know how much I hate the whole talking about feelings crap, but consider yourself lucky. I'm giving you an invitation to use me as your dumping post for a little while. If you need to talk, I'll be around, okay?" he said.

Bonnie bit her lip.

"What?" he asked.

"Don't get used to this," Bonnie said, unable to _not _smile the tiniest bit, in spite of how sad she was.

"Get used to what?"

"This," Bonnie said, reaching out to Damon, hugging him.

Normally Damon would be thinking about something witty and sarcastic to say, but he didn't bother with that right now, he just hugged her back, happy that he made her feel at least a tiny bit better.

o-o-o-o-o-o

Tyler opened his eyes. He was sweating and he was sore as hell, but at least he was back in his own body again. At least the excruciating pain was over.

It took him a minute or two to get himself up and stand firmly on his own feet, but he did it. He unchained himself and got back into his normal clothes and then he headed out to look for Caroline because he knew she'd be around in the woods somewhere.

o-o-o-o-o-o

"How was it?" Caroline asked Elena when she got back to the group.

"Not bad," Elena said.

"John and Jenna are coming," Stefan told Elena. "I see them. Caroline, your mom is with them."

"They're coming to take you guys home," Bonnie said.

"You're coming too," Elena and Caroline told her.

"Nope," Bonnie said, shaking her head.

"Yeah you are," Caroline said.

"There's no way we're letting you be alone tonight," Elena told her.

"Us three," Bonnie said, pointing at herself, Elena and Caroline, "we're solid. Our relationship is strong. It doesn't need any strengthening. But Care, your relationship with your mom does. And Elena, yours with John does too. It's clear to anyone who has eyes that they want to be able to comfort you. And you should let them. There's nothing good about tonight. There's nothing good about losing people you love, but if it can bring you closer to someone, you shouldn't run away from that. I want you guys to talk with them. I want you guys to hug them. I want you guys to hold on to them. I want you guys to get closer to them. They're not perfect, but they're your blood. You can't break those ties, even if you want to. My mother _could _be dead for all I know. I don't know where she is. I can't remember what the hell she looks like. I don't remember what her voice sounds like. She doesn't exist, and now my father is dead," Bonnie said, shutting her eyes tightly, trying to prevent tears. "We weren't very close. I hardly ever heard 'I love you.' He didn't know me all that well, but he was my _dad, _and I loved him, and he's gone now. I have no mom. I have no dad. I have you guys, and you mean everything to me. Your happiness makes me happy, and I'm _not_ just saying that. I _want_ you guys to be happy, and I know that at least a part of each of you still craves to be close to Liz and John. I want you to go home, and I want you to hug them. I want you to do what I hardly ever did with my dad. Do that for me, _please_," Bonnie said, practically whispering at this point. Her heart was racing with the rush of emotions that were pouring through her.

"But-"

"Bonnie won't be alone. Don't worry," Stefan said.

"Yeah, we'll keep Judgey company tonight," Damon told Caroline and Elena.

"See, don't worry about me. I won't be alone," she told her friends, trying to smile. Bonnie meant it, she really wanted them to spend some time with John and Liz.

After a moment Caroline and Elena reluctantly agreed.

Even Bonnie and Elena could see Jenna, John and Liz now. They'd be there in a minute.

"Stefan, can I talk to you for a second?" Elena asked.

Yeah," he said, trying to prepare himself for whatever she was going to say.

They walked a little bit away from the others before Elena started to speak.

"I know that you don't like John or Isobel, but you're really good where they're concerned with me. You push your feelings aside because you're always trying to make me happy, _even_ now," Elena said. "I just wanted to say thank you, and I'm sorry about before when I pushed you away, it was just crazy when they were closing the bag on Jeremy," Elena said, a tear escaping from her eye. "I broke up with you- so some things have to change, but Stefan, I never want to push you away. I don't ever want you to think that I don't want you around. I want you in my life. I _need _you in my life."

"Is hugging you against the new rules for us?" Stefan asked her.

"It probably should be, but I'm gonna say no, it's not against the rules for tonight," Elena whispered, as her single tear turned into many more.

Stefan pulled her close and held her tight, and he dreaded the moment when he was going to have to let her walk away with John and Jenna. "I'm not going anywhere, okay. I already told you, and I meant it- I'm here whenever you need me."

Damon watched and listened to Stefan and Elena, not quite believing what was going on. Stefan's earlier comment made a lot more sense now, though. Damon wasn't quite sure what his own feelings were at the moment. There were a bunch of conflicting ones. There was happiness because Elena wasn't his brother's anymore, and that meant he could pursue her without guilt if he wanted to. There was sympathy for his brother and Elena because both of them were clearly miserable. And there was shame because he found happiness in his brother's sadness.

o-o-o-o-o-o-o

"Does that phone of yours still work?" Katherine asked Anton, pacing back and forth in the tomb.

"I think there's a bit of battery left. I haven't really used it at all," Anton answered, surprised that she was speaking to him. "What's wrong? You've been pacing forever."

"Something happened. Something's wrong with Stefan. I don't know if he's hurt or if it's just his emotions, but something happened to him. I need to know if he's okay," Katherine said.

"Here," Anton said, passing her his phone. "I don't know if you'll be able to make a call, though. We don't really have reception down here."

"I'll get a signal long enough to send out a text message," Katherine said, beginning to compose a message. She asked if he was hurt and what had happened.

When she finished writing her message, she walked to the entrance of the tomb and managed to get one bar on the phone screen. That wouldn't be good for a conversation, she probably wouldn't get to hear most of it, but it was just fine for getting her message sent.

Katherine stayed in the same spot, hoping Stefan would respond quickly. And he did.

His message said 'Bonnie's father, Matt and Jeremy are dead. I'm not hurt, but somehow you managed to ruin my life- AGAIN. Don't send me another message, and don't try to talk to me like you usually do tonight. I won't let you in. I can't deal with you right now. I don't want to see you.'

Katherine cringed when she read the message. She didn't like it at all. Stefan hadn't been an ass to her like this in awhile.

Stefan didn't say it, but from his reaction, Katherine was 99.9% sure that Elena really did end up breaking up with him.

She should be happy right now, but she couldn't get passed Stefan's reply. She didn't even do anything. It pissed her off. She hated when he was mad at her, but she could admit that he sometimes had a right to be, but this time he didn't.

He said not to send another message, but she didn't care, he had no right to act like an asshole with her right now. She'd change his attitude real quick.

'I'm supposed to be helping you keep your precious Elena safe from Klaus and Elijah, remember? I'd be a lot nicer to me if I were you.'

Katherine pushed send and waited for his reply. It came quickly.

'Please just leave me alone for now. I can't deal with anything else tonight. I will talk to you tomorrow.'

"That's a bit better," Katherine mumbled, erasing the message so that Anton couldn't read it.

Three people were dead, and one of them was Emily's. Her thoughts went from memories of Emily, to Bonnie, to Stefan, and to Elena and back again. She even felt bad for Caroline.

She kept picturing Emily standing in front of her, angry at her for doing such a crappy job at looking out for her family.

"I promise, I'll do better with Bonnie. I'll do a better job at looking out for her when I get out of here. It's not like I wanted to break my promise to you, Emily," she said, barely whispering. "She's strong now, and probably won't need any help from me soon, but I'll watch her back."

Thinking about Stefan and Elena brought her some happiness, but only some. She wouldn't lie, a broken up Stefan and Elena was better for her, but Stefan was miserable, and Elena must be feeling extra horrible now, too because her brother also just died. Katherine couldn't help but feel a little horrible too.

She handed Anton back the phone before taking a seat against the cave wall. Katherine let out a sigh, and leaned her head back, picturing what might have happened tonight.


	53. Chapter 53

**o-0-o-0-o Okay, I'm back! Remember how my computer has been being stupid lately and causing me problems? Well, it finally went and completely died on me which is why I haven't been able to update in over a week. My computer finally just completely and utterly broke so I had no way at all to update until now. My friend gave me her old computer, and since I'm no computer whiz I had to wait for someone who had the time to set everything up for me. Anyway the update is finally here and it's a long chapter, so it's kind of a make-up for the lack of update. Thanks SO much to Stelena lover, David Fishwick, laugh4life, Marie, Tina, Hooked-On-TVD and Anna-Lisa for reviewing. And thanks to those who have favourited the story too. Here's chapter 53, hope you'll like it. Please take a tiny bit of time and leave me a review and let me know what you think o-0-o-0-o**

Tyler found Caroline in the woods, just like he thought he would. He knew immediately, however, that something was wrong. It wasn't only Caroline there. Stefan, Elena, Bonnie, Damon, John Gilbert, Jenna and Caroline's mother were all there too.

"What's going on?" Tyler asked, approaching the group.

Caroline's head whipped in Tyler's direction. She looked at him for a moment and her lip started to quiver.

"Care, hey, come on, it's okay," he said gently, knowing that probably nothing was okay, but trying to make things better nonetheless.

Caroline just shook her head and shut her eyes tight.

"What happened?" he asked, needing to know what was going on.

If he would have taken his eyes off of Caroline he would have noticed the expressions on everyone's faces and the tears in some of their eyes' but he wasn't looking at anyone else. His eyes were glued on Caroline.

"Caroline, you're scaring me now. Tell me what happened," Tyler said, desperate for some information.

Caroline's hand shot to her mouth, as if she just realized something important and horrible.

For a second, Tyler thought she would finally say something, but he was wrong. Caroline looked at him one more time and then she ran away.

Tyler finally glanced at the others and saw Elena and Bonnie, who looked like they'd been crying a lot, taking off after Caroline.

Tyler wanted to go after Caroline, but he was pretty sure that wasn't a good idea right now.

"Someone please tell me what's going on," Tyler said to the remaining people in the group.

Stefan and Damon were about to say something, but Caroline's mother spoke first.

"There was a wolf attack tonight. Three people are dead."

A sick feeling washed over Tyler. A wolf attack? No way there was some random wolf attack. It was a werewolf attack. He was the only werewolf in town, but he knew he hadn't done anything. He had still been chained up when he became his normal self again.

The sick feeling intensified as the next thought ran through his head. Had Jules come back to Mystic Falls?

"Jeremy, Bonnie's father and Matt are dead," the sheriff said.

"Oh my God," Tyler said, putting his head in his hands. "No way. No way."

"It's horrible," Liz said, but it's true.

Tyler suddenly remembered that Jenna and John were there. They just lost their nephew.

"I'm sorry for your loss," he told them quickly, before walking away.

It was Jules, Tyler knew it had been Jules. It had to have been.

o-o-o-o-o-o-o

"It's my fault. It's all my fault," Caroline said, kicking a tree. "I'm sorry. I'm so sorry guys," she said to Bonnie and Elena.

Elena and Bonnie just looked at each other.

"I can't see Tyler right now. I'm gonna get mad at him, and he didn't do anything tonight. I can't see him, okay?"

"Okay," Elena and Bonnie told her, confused.

"I got them killed. I got them all killed," Caroline said, tugging on her hair.

"Don't say that, Caroline."

"It's true, Elena," Caroline mumbled.

"Stop it, Care," Bonnie said.

"I should have gone to that stupid concert with him," Caroline said, clutching her stomach.

"You hate that band," Bonnie said, trying to make Caroline feel less guilty.

"I do. But I'm his girlfriend, I could have gone to make him happy. If I would have gone this wouldn't have happened."

"You don't know that, Caroline," Elena said, squeezing Caroline's hand.

"Oh shit, he's coming. I can't see him right now. Please, one of you go talk to him. Tell him I can't see him."

Bonnie and Elena exchanged look and it was decided that Bonnie would be the one to talk to Tyler.

"Guys, I'm really sorry," Tyler said uneasily, approaching them, his eyes were shining..

"Come on, Tyler," Bonnie sighed, grabbing his hand, taking him away from Caroline.

"Elena, I can say that I hated that stupid band all I want, but you know what, here's the bad part. I'm pretty sure that I would have found an excuse to get out of anything tonight. Tyler was on my mind and I intended to find out what was up with him. I picked Tyler over Matt tonight and now Matt's dead. If I went with him, maybe I could have stopped Jules from attacking. But I didn't go, and your brother went instead and now he's dead, too. And what do you want to bet that Bonnie's dad got in an accident because he saw Matt and Jeremy lying dead on the ground. He probably freaked out and swerved. That bitch Jules probably pieced it together that he knew them and killed him too, just for more fun," Caroline said, crying again.

"It's not your fault."

"Yes it is, Elena."

Elena was crying again too. "Shut up," she said, hugging Caroline tightly. "Just shut up."

o-o-o-o-o-o

"Tyler, you just need to stay away from Caroline for a bit, okay? She can't see you right now," Bonnie said, sighing, rubbing her head.

"She's mad at me, isn't she? She blames me, right? Was it Jules? Did Jules do it?" Tyler asked, looking about reading to ram his head and fist into the nearest tree. "It's all my fault."

"Tyler, please calm down," Bonnie said, taking a deep breath. "She's blaming herself for everything right now. She's not blaming you, but she can't see you. Not now... This isn't your fault or her fault. It's Jules' fault, and she got what was coming to her. I just wish we could have made her suffer more than she did," Bonnie said, anger rising inside of her again at the thought of Jules.

"Jules is dead?"

"Yep," Bonnie said, fists clenched.

"Who did it?"

"It was going to be me. I was more than half-way there, but Damon did it in the end," Bonnie said, closing her eyes.

"Did you fry her brain?" Tyler asked.

"Yes I did," Bonnie said, taking another deep breath.

"Good," Tyler said, nodding his head.

"Just give Caroline some space. You guys will talk when she's ready. Go home and get some rest. We're all getting out of here in a couple minutes," Bonnie said tiredly, beginning to make her way back to Elena and Caroline.

"Bonnie, my dad was a douche, but when he died it still messed me up. I know your dad wasn't always around, but I know that you loved him anyway. I can only imagine what you're feeling right now. I'm sorry for what you lost- him and Jeremy, and I know you and Matt were pretty close too. I'm not the greatest with the emotional stuff, but if there's something you need, or if you want to talk to someone, you can come to me and I'll try to help."

"Thanks Ty," Bonnie said, turning back and giving him a smile. "Go home and get some rest. I know you had quite one hell of a night too."

"If I go home and close my eyes all I'm gonna see is Matt's face, and I'm gonna be reminded of what a shitty friend I've been to him- pining after his girl, hoping that she'd break up with him and that I'd have another chance with her," Tyler said quietly. "Bonnie, he was my best friend, but I wanted what he had, and part of me didn't care if he got hurt. Part of me resented him for being with her. Part of me wanted to take Caroline away from him even though he deserves her far more than I do. I'm gonna miss him and now that's always going to be tangled in with guilt and regret. I don't know if you can understand that... I'm sorry to dump that on you. You don't need to be hearing this. Please don't tell anyone I said that," Tyler said, looking at the ground.

"Hey," Bonnie said, walking back to him. "Look at me."

Tyler looked up.

"Missing someone and feeling guilt and regret- that's me too, tonight, for my dad _and_ Jeremy, Matt too" Bonnie said quietly, feeling the need to get something off her chest, also. All this talk of missing someone, and guilt and regret just brought up her own feelings about those things that she had been pushing down.

"What are you feeling guilty about?"

"I was thinking about breaking up with Jeremy," Bonnie said, barely above a whisper. "The boy was crazy about me and I adored him too, but I started to get annoyed with him more and more often. I felt like he was getting too clingy and I'd get angry at him pretty easily. That boy loved me, and sometimes that didn't matter. Sometimes it actually started to annoy me even though I cared. He loved me, and at this point, I don't think I deserved that love. Maybe I wasn't good enough for him. He meant a lot to me and now he's gone, and I'm really going to miss him... When I close my eyes tonight I'm gonna see my dad and he's probably gonna say that he's sorry for not making more of an effort with me, but he's also probably gonna ask me why _I _never made more of an effort with him. And I'm gonna see Jeremy, and he's gonna tell me I didn't love him enough. He's gonna say that I pushed him away. And then I'm gonna see Matt- the sweetest boy- and he's gonna ask me when and how and _why, _I started to think that _you_ might be better suited for Caroline than him," Bonnie said, wiping at her eyes.

Tyler sighed. He looked at Bonnie for a moment before starting to speak again, but Bonnie cut him off.

"Don't comment, please," she said, smiling sadly. "Go home Ty. _Try_ to think of something good," Bonnie said, heading off.

Elena and Caroline were waiting for Bonnie when she got back to where they were. Liz and John and Jenna were ready to leave but Elena and Caroline waited so that they could say their final goodbye to Bonnie for the night.

"Are you sure you won't come back with us tonight, Bonnie?" Jenna asked.

"Yeah, but thank you, though," Bonnie said.

Jenna sighed but nodded.

Liz had already asked Bonnie if she would stay with her and Caroline for the night but Bonnie had also told her she would be fine.

Elena, Bonnie and Caroline hugged each other one more time before they each headed off in their own direction.

Caroline couldn't tell you exactly how it happened and she didn't really care because it actually felt nice to be close to her, but she ended up falling asleep in her mother's lap after she got off the phone with Matt's mother. Liz felt terrible for what had happened that night, but having her daughter that close to her again made her feel more wonderful than she had in a very long time.

Elena had hugged Jenna about a thousand times that night and she could tell that Jenna wouldn't mind another thousand at all. Elena inwardly complimented her aunt's selflessness and strength when Jenna told her that she was going to try to get some sleep. Elena knew that Jenna was not going to even try to sleep at all right now, she was just giving John and Elena some time. And she knew that Jenna wanted nothing more than to just hold her right now. It wasn't only Elena who had lost a lot recently. Yes, Elena had lost her parents and brother, but Jenna had lost her sister and now her nephew, too. Jenna was not a fan of John and Elena knew it, but she was putting Elena before herself and being good to John. John was Elena's father and no one really knew how long he was going to be around and she wanted Elena to bond and spend as much time with him as she could.

"Aunt Jenna," Elena called out.

Jenna turned around before starting up the stairs.

"I love you so much," Elena said, meaning it.

Jenna walked back to Elena and placed a kiss on her cheek.

"Love you too, Easy E," Jenna said, giving Elena's hand a squeeze before literally running up the stairs.

Elena knew that Jenna would be crying for quite awhile tonight.

"Easy E, huh?" John said with a half genuine and half forced smile.

"It's her nickname for me."

"I figured that much, Elena. What I meant was what's the story behind it?" John asked.

"No one else is allowed to call me that. There's no big story behind it really. I guess I did something cute or sweet when I was a lot younger and then she called me Easy E. I asked her why she said that, and she told me it was because I was really easy to love."

"Well, I'd say that's a pretty accurate nickname for you, then. I agree with Jenna," John told her.

Elena wasn't up for talking about how John loved her tonight, but she did want to spend some time with him.

"What's your first memory of Jeremy?" Elena asked him.

John's face lit up with a smile. "I wasn't in the country when he was born, but I got back here three days after he was born. One of Miranda's friends had come by to visit her and they were out on the back porch, I think. Jeremy had been crying, and when I walked through the door Grayson was trying to get him to stop crying, but he wasn't getting anywhere with that. I think you had been sleeping on the couch because you walked over, rubbing your eyes. You tugged on Grayson's shirt and motioned him over to the couch so he walked over and sat down on the couch holding Jeremy. You hopped up onto the couch and sat next to him. Jeremy was still crying, but about fifteen seconds after that, the crying stopped. You held his little baby hand and you told him 'Don't cry. Don't cry. Big sister's here. Don't cry. Be happy. Be happy. Big sister's here. Don't cry. Please don't cry.' That's kind of permanently etched in my mind. You weren't even two yet. You got him to stop crying in a matter of seconds. Jeremy adored you from the very beginning," John told Elena, taking a deep breath and wiping his eyes. They had started to water.

"The feeling has always been mutual," Elena said, biting her lip and wiping her own eyes.

Elena did not think it was possible for someone to cry so much in one night. She didn't even know how she had any tears left to cry, but it seemed like she had an endless supply.

o-o-o-o-o-o

"Okay guys, thanks for keeping me company on the walk here. I'll tell Elena and Care that you guys stayed so don't worry about it. I'll be fine. You guys can go home now," Bonnie said as she, Stefan and Damon approached her house.

"Yeah, I don't think so, Judgey," Damon said.

"You're not getting rid of us, Bonnie," Stefan told her.

Bonnie had to fight to hide the disgust she felt when she approached her front door. Bonnie walked to her door feeling disgusted at seeing who was waiting there, and happy that Stefan and Damon hadn't left.

Elijah was standing in front of her door. Bonnie didn't need to turn around to look at Stefan and Damon to know that they were fighting to keep looks of fury and disgust off of their own faces as well.

"Elijah," Bonnie said, making sure to keep her hatred for him out of her voice.

"I'm so sorry, Bonnie. I heard what happened tonight. There's quite the gathering of people a couple blocks down. A bunch of people are talking. I'm sorry for your loss, or rather losses tonight. I went by Elena's and Caroline's to give my condolences but I could see that they were having important moments with their family members," Elijah said, placing a gentle hand on Bonnie's shoulder.

It took everything in Bonnie not to smack his hand away from her.

"Thank you. It means a lot that you came. You're really good to us."

"I could stay with you tonight, if you'd like some company- a friendly face," Elijah said, giving Bonnie a smile.

"That won't be necessary," Damon said, walking up to where Bonnie and Elijah were with Stefan.

"We're keeping her company tonight. You don't need to worry about her. I'm glad that you're looking out for Elena and Bonnie and Caroline. It's good to know that you care, but we've got it," Stefan said, giving Elijah a smile. "I'll tell Caroline and Elena that you send your condolences."

"I've met a lot of witches throughout my years, and I have to say that you, Miss Bennett, are my favourite one. I think if a situation ever came up, you and I could do some great work together."

"That's very nice of you to say," Bonnie said, forcing a smile. "I don't think I'd be much of a help to you, though. There's only so much magic I can do, and honestly when this whole deal with Klaus is over, I really just want to relax and be a normal girl," she said with a small laugh, getting tired of having to fake everything.

"I can understand that. Well, I'll be on my way then. Don't hesitate to call me if you need anything, Bonnie. Have a good night. Same to you- Stefan and Damon," Elijah said, walking down Bonnie's driveway.

"Thanks Elijah. You too," Bonnie said, reaching into her pocket for her keys.

Bonnie opened the door quickly and ushered Stefan and Damon inside.

"What the hell was that?" Damon said. "Creepy bastard."

"Creepy bastard is right," Bonnie agreed. " 'I could stay with you tonight' " Bonnie said, repeating Elijah's words- "yeah like I'd ever let him in my house."

Bonnie stomped up the stairs, muttering, "Dirty asshole had to touch me. Now I have to burn another friggin' shirt."

In spite of everything horrible tonight, Stefan let out a real laugh. Damon looked at him wondering what Bonnie was mumbling about.

"When Lucy died, Elijah came by and did his whole nice guy routine, like he did tonight to try to keep up the illusion that he's on our side and there was a hug. She doesn't like having any physical contact with him, so she burned that shirt she was wearing, and she's gonna do the same thing with this one," Stefan said.

Damon nodded and looked at the dining room table. "Should probably get rid of that. I doubt Judgey's gonna want to look at that right now," he said, eyeing the plates of food that were supposed to be for Bonnie and her dad.

"Did _you _make that?" Stefan asked him.

"Yep. Bon-Bon could barely keep her eyes open so I made a deal with her- I make supper for her and her dad and she'd owe me a favour."

Damon picked up half of the dishes on the table and Stefan grabbed the other half. They poured the food into the garbage.

"We should probably put the plates away, right? Better to not have any reminders she was supposed to be having dinner with her dad?" Damon asked awkwardly.

"Yeah, I think so," Stefan said, putting the dishes into the sink.

Damon pulled out a coin from his pocket. "You wash and I'll dry if it's heads. I'll wash and you'll dry if it's tales."

"Okay," Stefan said..

Damon flipped the coin and frowned.

Stefan smirked. "Get the sponge, Damon. You get to wash."

"Oh yay," Damon said sarcastically, grabbing the sponge and some soap.

Neither Stefan or Damon noticed that Bonnie was already back down. She stood watching them silently with a little smile on her face.

"So, you and Elena broke up?" Damon asked carefully after a moment.

"Yep," Stefan said, not looking at Damon.

"Sorry," Damon said.

Stefan sighed. "No need to lie."

Damon was about to say something, but he stopped. Stefan was right, but he was also wrong. Damon wasn't in the mood to explain that right now, though. He wasn't really up to explaining to his brother that _yes _he was sorry that they were broken up, but that _no _he wasn't sorry that he and Elena were no longer together. Truthfully, and at least he knew that he _should _ feel guilty about it, he was less sorry than he was happy. Happiness was the stronger of the two feelings.

Damon knew that he said he didn't deserve Elena, but the fact that she was no longer with Stefan seemed to make Damon brush that aside. If he stood a chance with her now, maybe he could do better- be better.

Damon just shrugged.

"When was it? When was the exact moment that you fell in love with Elena?" Stefan asked, trying to keep his fists from clenching."It wasn't from the beginning. It wasn't from when you first met her. You were just trying to piss me off in the beginning."

"I'm not sure exactly when," Damon said quietly, feeling uncomfortable.

"So, I'm guessing that you're going to try to make a move on her sooner or later," Stefan said, unsuccessful in his attempt to keep his fists from clenching.

"What do you want me to say, Stefan? I want her. I love her. I can go after her now without being a complete douche-bag since you guys are broken up- yeah I'm gonna try to get her," Damon sighed, hating the way the words sounded.

"I'm gonna give her the space she needs and I'm gonna think about the things she needs me to deal with, but I'm just telling you now, for me- Elena and I aren't done. I'm not giving up."

"And what if I get with her? What if me and her are together, what if she actually wants to be with me? What would you do if she picked me over you?" Damon asked, raising his eyebrow.

_Time to step in.__I don't need a vampire fight breaking out in my kitchen._

"Come here Damon," Bonnie said, making it seem like she just arrived.

Stefan and Damon turned to face Bonnie, acting as if nothing had happened between them.

"What's up Bennett?" Damon asked.

"Since that loser had to touch me, we might as well get something out of it. I've already done this for Stefan and myself, now it's your turn."

"What are you gonna do?" Damon wondered.

"I'm gonna do a spell. It'll tell you whenever Elijah's close by," Bonnie explained.

"Cool with me," Damon said, nodding. "Actually, why don't you just wait to do that another day? You should probably just try to relax if that's at all possible tonight."

"I want to burn this shirt as soon as possible and we need it for me to do the spell. I don't really think I'm going to be able to relax. I don't really want to close my eyes... Anyway, I have a lot of things I need to do- I've got to make calls. How the hell do you plan a funeral? I'm gonna have to do that," Bonnie mumbled, almost forgetting that Stefan and Damon were with her.

Stefan and Damon didn't know what to say.

"Okay, let's get this done," Bonnie said, moving the topic back to the spell.

"Can you give me 5 minutes, Judgey? I'll be right back," Damon said, heading out the door.

"What's he doing?" Bonnie asked.

Stefan shrugged.

"Stefan," Bonnie said gently.

"Yeah?"

"Please don't tell him that I said anything, but part of him really _is _sorry about you and Elena. He loves her, but he loves you too. And that's not just me saying things- it's true. I know that for a fact."

"So you heard us, then?" Stefan said, sighing.

"Yeah. I pretended like I didn't because I'm really not in the mood to try to break up a fight."

"I'm sorry."

"You don't have to apologize... Just try not to hate him, okay? I know that you're heart-broken right now. I know that you can't stand the thought of Elena being with someone else, especially him, because it'll probably feel quite a bit like history repeating, and because he's done _so_ many horrible things in the past, but I'm telling you right now that if something does happen with him and Elena it's really not about trying to hurt you anymore. Don't ask me how I know that, but believe me when I say that I do," Bonnie said, squeezing his hand.

"Don't worry about what's going on between me and him. Stop worrying about others for a little while, especially right now. You're going through a lot- you should focus on yourself for a change," Stefan said, giving her a sad smile.

"Wanna help me out with something?" Bonnie asked.

"Sure," Stefan said.

Bonnie left the room and came back with a small book.

"Do you think you can help me get through some of this," Bonnie said, pointing at a bunch of names.

"Call these people?" Stefan asked.

"If you wouldn't mind."

"Yeah, no problem," Stefan told her.

"I don't know these people. They mean nothing to me. Everyone that matters to me is in this town. It won't make any difference if you're the one to call," Bonnie said, rubbing her temples. "Can you just tell them that you're a friend of mine? Tell them that my dad-tell them he's... Umm, tell them that he passed away," Bonnie said, biting down on her lip very hard. "Tell them that I'll let them know the date of the funeral when I figure all that out."

Stefan nodded, taking the book from Bonnie.

Damon got back to Bonnie's house a couple minutes later.

"All right Bennett- put a spell on me," Damon said.

Bonnie rolled her eyes and motioned him over to her.

When everything was finished and all the time they needed to wait passed by, Bonnie got rid of her shirt, never wanting to see it again.

"If you're not gonna sleep, at least sit down and drink some water or something. You look close to passing out, Judgey," Damon said, passing her a cup of water.

"I'm fine," Bonnie lied.

"Just drink the damn water, witchy," Damon insisted.

Bonnie gulped down the water. "Happy?" she said.

"That's better," Damon grinned.

Bonnie's doorbell rang.

"Who the hell is at my door at this time?" Bonnie muttered.

"I got it,' Stefan said, walking to the door.

He pulled out some money and handed it to the guy at the door. He turned around with a box of pizza.

"Eat something," Stefan said, putting the box down in front of Bonnie.

"You got me pizza," Bonnie said, smiling a bit.

"Yep, now eat something. Damon's right, you look about ready to pass out," Stefan told her.

"I think I _am _a little hungry," Bonnie admitted, grabbing a slice of pizza from the box.

After the second slice of pizza, Bonnie's eyes started to close.

"You put something in my drink, didn't you?" Bonnie mumbled to Damon, trying to keep her eyes open. "Why did you do that? I don't wanna go to sleep."

"Come on Bon-Bon, I only crushed up some sleeping pills and put them into your water. You need to sleep. Your body actually needs that, you know?"

"I don't care if that's what my body needs. My heart is gonna break all over again when I close my eyes. I can't pretend in my sleep. I can't be busy in my sleep. I'm gonna see them and it's gonna hurt all over again. They're gone and when I close my eyes it's gonna be real. It's not fair," Bonnie said, unable to keep her eyes open any longer.

Stefan walked up the stairs without a word and came back with a blanket. He draped it over Bonnie and went back to the book full of phone numbers of people who needed to be called.

"You know that my attempts at getting Elena are probably gonna fail, so don't hate me too much. I'm not trying to hurt you, but she's gotten to me. She made me love her. I'm not gonna apologize for that. You can't hold that against me. Don't try to make me feel bad about that," Damon said, walking over to Stefan.

"Elena is _so_ easy to love. You don't need to apologize for loving her. I don't hold _that _against you," Stefan said, taking a deep breath. "But why the hell do you have to act on it? I loved her first, and I still love her now, and I'm gonna love her until the day I really die, and if we still can feel after that, I'm gonna love her then, too. And you know that about me. You might not be trying to hurt me, but you do, and you did it in 1864 too ... I hate the thought that there's even a possibility you could be with Elena. I don't know what you want from me, Damon."

"I've done a lot of things to you. I've done tons of bad shit and you've forgiven me. I know you've hated me. I'm sure you still probably have hate for me, but you love me- for whatever crazy reason- you do. I _know_ that. And I know I don't deserve it, but I don't want to lose it. I don't want that to go away, so please try not to hate me for this," Damon said, looking anywhere but at Stefan, not believing that he actually just spoke those words.

Damon never intended to say those things out loud. That was far too much emotion out on display.

"Can you finish these calls? There's only about five left to make. Tell them you're a friend of Bonnie's and that her dad passed away and that she'll contact them with details on the funeral when the arrangements are made," Stefan said, taking another deep breath.

"Yeah," Damon said.

Stefan opened the door to Bonnie's basement and went down.

o-o-o-o-o-o-o

They'd been talking for quite awhile, mostly about memories of Jeremy, but they'd also been talking about different memories with Matt and Bonnie's father too.

It was both happy and sad, but it got to a point where it was making Elena far more sad than happy. Elena needed to change the topic. "Isobel came to see me today."

"Did she?"

"Yeah," Elena said. "A bit before you and Jenna and Liz came to find us in the woods. I think she thought about some of the things you said to her."

"What things?" John asked.

"You were talking to her here- you didn't know I was here. I heard your conversation. She asked you who was going to look out for me if you were... dead... You said her. You told her to start acting like my mother,' Elena said.

"What did she say to you?" John questioned.

"She was really uncomfortable, but for the first time ever out of the times that I've spoken to her, I actually believe that she gives a damn. She cares about me," Elena said tiredly.

"She does more than give a damn and care about you. Isobel loves you, but she just doesn't know how to show it. She's not so good with emotions... You gonna give her a chance?"

"Yeah, I am. The both of you, actually. I'm gonna try to do the whole 'clean slate' thing... Were you ever gonna tell me that you're not actually better? Were you ever gonna tell me that you're still sick?"

John shrugged. "Jeremy was going to make me. I don't really know what I would have done, though," John admitted.

"I think I'm gonna go up to bed. I'm kind of exhausted. This day has been utter hell. You should try to get some sleep too. Tomorrow's not gonna be easy," Elena said, getting up.

"Thank you for this. I wish it was under better circumstances, but I'm glad that we talked," John said, getting up to.

Elena nodded and gave him a small, sad smile. "Goodnight."

"Goodnight."

Elena looked in on Jenna and saw that she had finally fallen asleep. It was clear she cried herself to sleep, though.

Elena went to her room and closed the door. She picked the picture of Jeremy and her up and brought it with her as she curled up in her bed. She was pretty sure she wasn't going to get any sleep, but she just needed some time by herself, which was why she came up here.

Maybe it wasn't that she wanted to be by herself, but that she just needed a little bit of space from John. It was nice talking with him, especially about Jeremy, it was good for the both of them, but it was a lot for one night. They needed to take things slow. Talk a bit each day.

She wanted to hear Stefan's voice so badly right now, and that was problematic for more than one reason. She broke up with him. She knew that she should try not to need him so much, but she couldn't do that right now. She should try not to need him so much because she knew that he was hurting too. It was selfish of her to need him to be there for her after she ended things between them, but she could never really let him go. Stefan was a necessity in her life even if she couldn't be with him anymore. She'd get her act together tomorrow. She'd be stronger tomorrow. She'd stop trying to lean on him so much tomorrow. She just needed him so much tonight. She just needed to hear his voice.

Elena picked up her phone, ready to send Stefan a text message asking him to call her, but she didn't have to. Stefan's name flashed on the screen of her phone. He sent her a text message. 'If you're still up and you need to talk to someone other than Jenna and John, don't hesitate to call me.'

Elena dialled Stefan's phone number immediately.

"Hey."

"Hi," she said quietly. "Can you just talk to me? I really wanna hear your voice right now. I don't care what you say, as long as it's not about anything that happened tonight. You can talk about the weather for all I care, but please just talk. I need to hear your voice, " Elena blurted out, holding onto her phone as if it was her lifeline.

There was only a second's pause before Stefan started to speak.

"I'm thinking about buying a new car. Any colour suggestions for me? I'm thinking red or black," Stefan said, leaning his head against the wall in Bonnie's basement.

Elena smiled and bit her lip. "Those are good colours. I think either one would be great."

o-o-o-o-o-o-o

"Question time," Anton said, as Katherine threw rocks at the wall.

"Whatever," Katherine mumbled.

"Tell me the truth, did you regret having the baby?"

"I hate that you fathered my kid. I hate that I have a link to you after what you did, but I didn't regret her. I loved her like crazy. I'll never regret her, and even though I loved her with everything inside me, even though I would have died for her happily, you don't get to expect forgiveness from me," Katherine told him.

"You had feelings for me at some point, I know you did," Anton said quietly.

"I did. I liked you a lot. With time, I probably would have loved you. But you fucked that up real bad. It's your fault that I don't love you. Your actions made me wipe away the _like_ I had for you- you never stood a chance of having my love after that," Katherine said, looking up at the roof of the cave, not wanting to speak to him at all.

"Stefan has your love, though," Anton commented.

"Yeah, and he's had it for a long time," Katherine sighed. "He's gonna have it until the end."

"Even if he doesn't love you back?" Anton questioned.

"Yes," she answered

"I think he does love you back, though. I just don't think he can acknowledge that. At the very least, he still cares about you. I think you must have hurt him somewhere along the way, though."

"I don't need or want a commentary on my love life, _especially _from you," she muttered, going back to tossing rocks at the tomb wall.


	54. Chapter 54

**o-0-o-0-o Thanks to Raya, David Fishwick, stelena lover, laugh4life, Marie, celia and Sasha R for the reviews. And thanks to those who have put the story on their favourites list. Here's the new chapter. Please take a bit of time to leave me a review. I always appreciate it :) o-0-o-0-o**

The time had passed and the funeral for Jeremy, Matt and Bonnie's father had happened. Everyone had agreed that they would do the funerals for all three of them together. There were tears, so many tears. There were small speeches that no one could remember afterwards because all they could focus on was grief.

Elena, Bonnie and Caroline stayed close most of the time.

It wasn't Elena clinging to Bonnie and Caroline, or John and Jenna that tore pretty much whatever was left of Stefan's heart out, her clinging to them was absolutely natural. It was right. That wasn't what hurt. What hurt- what made his heart absolutely ache, was when Elena looked at him with tears streaming down her face and a small, sad smile. She looked at him for a moment and he thought that she was going to come to him, instead after a minute she shook her head. It looked like she was in her own little world then. She shook her head and then she turned to Damon and hugged him, holding onto him tightly. He got a shake of the head and Damon got to hold her.

Caroline, who had been trying not to return Tyler's many glances, was looking in every direction but at Tyler, and her gaze fell on Stefan and her broken heart broke a little bit more. She'd seen it. She saw Elena staring at Stefan and then turning to Damon, and she saw Stefan's expression. It looked- well, it just looked absolutely sad.

Elena told her and Bonnie about the break-up finally the other day, confirming what she had already assumed. Caroline felt horrible about the whole thing because she loved Stefan and Elena together and really believed that they were supposed to be together. She knew that Elena was dying inside over the break-up, but she was trying to be strong. And Elena being strong was trying to make herself not run to Stefan with everything, Caroline was sure that that was what Elena shaking her head had been about. That was Elena telling herself to try not to need Stefan so much. She would bet anything that Elena wasn't even aware she did it.

Elena was heart-broken, Caroline knew, but, she couldn't ignore how badly poor Stefan was hurting, either. And right now, the look on his face was killing her a little more than his sadness had already been doing to her. Stefan had a very special place in Caroline's heart, and he always would. Stefan was sweet to her. He was good to her. He took care of her, and he made her believe that she could make it as a vampire. Honestly, Stefan was pretty much the reason that she was still around. There was a tenderness and protectiveness she had for him, and she didn't doubt that she would have that for the rest of her existence.

She hated seeing him sad, and right now, he was standing alone. Caroline's heart was broken over Matt, but Stefan's pain was radiating off of him, and it could not be ignored. So she walked over to Stefan, with her own grief and sadness, and she pulled him into a long hug.

Stefan pushed his anguish over Elena aside and he asked Caroline if there was anything he could do for her, if there was anything that she needed.

"All I need is this hug right now, and I think you do too, Mister," she whispered, leaning her head against him.

Stefan returned the embrace and hugged her a little tighter.

"Please don't worry about me right now. Just ignore me," Stefan whispered. "This is a funeral, you shouldn't have to be worried about my feelings over the girl I love."

"This day is already miserable enough. We're burying three people. There's already so much sadness here, Stefan. If there's something I can do to try to make someone else's sadness go away or at least lessen, then trust me, that's what I wanna do... I _hate _seeing you sad," she said, placing a kiss on his cheek.

"I'm okay," he said, ruffling her hair a bit.

"You don't need to lie. You're allowed to be sad. I know how much you love her," Caroline whispered.

o-o-o

Bonnie took a deep breath, and tried to prepare herself for some more fake heart-felt conversation with people she didn't even know, but she was relieved when she saw the next person coming to talk to her. It wasn't one of her father's friends or one of the few people left who were technically related to her, people she didn't know. It was Tyler.

"You look like you could use some saving," he said quietly.

"Thank you," she said. "I can take care of myself, but today, I'll happily be rescued," she said, attempting a smile.

"Let me guess- you hardly know those people and they're talking to you like you guys were the best of friends?"

"Pretty much," Bonnie sighed.

"I remember that crap. When my dad died, I had all these people coming with condolences and acting like they knew me so well, acting like we were such great friends. I mean 95% of the people I talked to on that day I had either never seen before or hardly knew at all. I'm sure their hearts were in the right place, just like I'm sure these people's are, but who the hell wants to deal with fakeness when you're burying a person or like today, people," Tyler commented.

"Exactly," Bonnie said. "How are you doing by the way? Did you ever end up getting any sleep that night?"

"No, I didn't. I went home, but then I spent pretty much the rest of the night just walking. I was remembering a lot of things with Matt. What about you? Did you get any sleep that night?" Tyler asked.

"Yeah, but only because I was tricked into it. Damon insisted that I drink some water, which I did, but I didn't know that he'd crushed up a bunch of sleeping pills and put them in the water," Bonnie told him.

"Speaking of Damon, did I miss something? Did Elena and Stefan break up? Why's she huddled up with Damon? Stefan was looking like someone ripped his heart out, and then Caroline, who was trying to look anywhere but at me, went over to him,"

"Stefan and Elena aren't together anymore. Nothing's going on with Damon and Elena, but I think Stefan's worried that there is or that there will be. It sucks for you that she is still trying to avoid you, but I'm glad Caroline went over to Stefan. He could really use a hug," Bonnie said, surveying the scenes with both Caroline and Stefan, and Elena and Damon.

"Caroline and Stefan are pretty close, aren't they?" Tyler asked.

"Yeah," Bonnie said. "He basically saved her. He helped her get herself under control. He helped her adjust to being a vampire. He was there for her when she really needed someone. They've got a way with each other- it's sweet, and it's _innocent,_" Bonnie said, thinking that Tyler might be a little jealous.

"Do I look jealous that's she's over there hugging him?" Tyler asked Bonnie.

"Yeah, kinda," Bonnie admitted, laughing a bit, in spite of crying her eyes out moments earlier.

"So you and me- we're good again, right?" Tyler asked, turning back to Bonnie.

"There's only ever been one reason why you and me weren't good and that's Caroline. You've apologized to her over and over again and I know that you regret what happened to her. I know you'd never let something like that happen again, so yeah Ty, you and me are good."

"It kinda sucked knowing that you were ready to kick my ass at any second. It's not fun having you not like me," Tyler told her.

"You're not gonna screw up with Caroline again, so don't worry about it."

o-o-o-o

The funeral was now completely over. Everyone had left, but they'd all be meeting back here later tonight so that he and Bonnie could explain everything that had been going on. They would tell Caroline, Alaric and Tyler (they decided it would be useful to have Tyler helping them out) all the things they didn't know, and they were finally going to bring in Luka as well. They'd tell everyone including Damon and Elena about getting Katherine out of the tomb.

Bonnie had been practicing a lot more recently and she felt like she would be able to get Katherine out of the tomb any day now. Bonnie, Damon and himself had gotten a lot more white-ash wood, too.

Things were coming along, and soon they could all start planning.

He and Damon had already signed the house over to Elena the day before.

To say that Elena was shocked that the brothers were giving her their home wasn't quite right.

Shocked was an understatement. Stefan explained that he thought it would be the safest thing if there could be another place besides her own home that she could call hers, a place where this time, she could keep unwanted guests out. Elijah and Klaus wouldn't be able to get in the house without an invitation and it would be a good place for everyone to meet up to discuss matters because it was big.

Bonnie had already told Stefan that they could use her house, but it wasn't as big as the Salvatore mansion by any means.

When Elena finally saw some logic behind signing over the house, she quickly gave Stefan, Damon and Caroline the invitation needed for them to enter.

Stefan was currently in his basement grabbing some blood-bags to bring to Katherine. He had been bringing her blood, but he hadn't been speaking to her at all when he did, and he never stayed any longer than it took to throw the blood to Katherine in the tomb. She'd been coming to him in his dreams each night, but he got rid of her pretty quickly, too, each night. He would tell her that there was no new news and he wouldn't say anything else to her.

He had been angry with her. He couldn't speak with her. What was he supposed to say to the woman who was the reason that his girlfriend broke up with him? What was he supposed to say to the person his girlfriend was convinced he still had feelings for, the person he apparently still loved? All Stefan could do lately was be miserable over losing Elena and angry at Katherine about it too.

Part of him knew that he shouldn't really be so angry with Katherine, though. That part just kept getting pushed down all the time.

Stefan poured the contents of the blood bags into some bottles and headed to the tomb.

When he got there, he did something he hadn't done in awhile now. Stefan walked into the tomb and took a seat opposite Katherine. He wasn't sure if it had been days or if time had crossed into the weeks category yet since Elena ended things.

Katherine greeted him with a smile, not a wicked one or anything, just a seemingly genuine 'I'm happy to see you' smile.

Stefan just rolled the blood bottles over the invisible barrier and stared past her into the tomb.

"What's wrong?" she asked him.

"I don't want to talk," he answered.

"I _know _ that. I've known that for a week. You've made that pretty obvious. Something to do with Elena?" She guessed.

"I don't want _you_ to say _her _ name," he mumbled angrily.

"What's wrong with you? Whatever's wrong, you can't blame on me this time because I've been stuck in this lovely little shit-hole."

"None of your business," he said. Because of her, he and Elena had just went through hell. Because of her he was aching, because of her Elena was gone. Because of her, it was Damon whose shoulder Elena had been crying on at the funeral. Because of her, any day now- Elena and Damon being together could actually be a possibility.

"O-kay whatever," she said, pouring the contents of the bottles down her throat.

He wanted to blame her for all of this, but he couldn't, not really. This wasn't really her fault, it was his own. It was whatever he was doing or however he was acting that led Elena to end things, but either way, he felt like he was dying inside. Elena left him and was probably moving on to his brother. Now he was sitting with the woman Elena kept insisting that Stefan loved, along with her. He couldn't help but be angry with Katherine, even if it wasn't her fault.

There was silence for a few minutes.

"She broke up with me," Stefan finally said. "Earlier in the night that Jeremy, Bonnie's dad and Matt died- she broke up with me. She thinks I still love you," Stefan blurted out.

"Oh," was all Katherine said.

"She has this crazy theory," Stefan said, now needing to say out loud to someone what Elena had told him. "She thinks that when I turned and learned that you compelled me to not be afraid of you, I believed that _everything_ was because of compulsion, that everything was a game to you, that you were only using me and that you never loved me, that you only ever lied to me. She thinks that I really got it stuck in my head that you never loved me, so in turn I _convinced_ myself that you never loved me, that you used compulsion to make me love you and not just to take away my fear- and that's how I made myself hate you. She thinks that I must have thought that if I hated you it would hurt me less, that I wouldn't be so heartbroken over your death and I wouldn't have to mourn you. She also thinks that Damon had something to do with everything.

"Elena knows that Damon never wanted to be a vampire, not without you. She thinks that I felt horrible over how angry Damon was that we both became vampires. She thinks I pushed down or distorted my own feelings of sadness and loss and love for you because I couldn't take back Damon becoming a vampire, but maybe I could take back my feelings for you and that somehow that could make things better. She thinks old feelings are coming back for me and that I've been trying to push them down... Crazy theory. She doesn't know what she's talking about."

After he said that, he didn't say another word for a bit.

"Are you really not going to say anything, Stefan? You're not going to say anything after telling me that?"

He didn't answer her, he just stared off. After a moment he asked, "What's that book you have in there with you?"

"I don't want to talk," she said, mimicking his earlier statement.

Stefan rolled his eyes and Katherine smirked.

"Fine, fine," she said. "It's pretty much my family's history."

"Oh yeah, I forgot she brought it to you" he said.

"Ummmmm... Okay, I know I don't really have the right to ask you for anything, and I'm sorry that you're bummed out, but do you think you could do something for me?" Katherine asked uneasily. "I know it was Damon and Elena who took the little road trip to wherever they found the book. Could you ask them if there was anything else with this book, you know something that they might have taken out or something that had just fallen out, like a drawn portrait or something?"

Stefan heard someone enter the tomb and he knew it was Elijah. He didn't know what he actually would have said to Katherine, but since Elijah was here now, he'd tailor his response to one Elijah would be happy with.

"Don't you think I've already done quite a bit for you?" he said to her, putting on a show.

"You're pretty lucky that this guy has such a strong decent side," Elijah's voice rang out. "You're lucky that someone you've messed with is that decent... Anyway, I just couldn't resist. You should suffer at _least_ a little bit today. I could use a little entertainment before I head out on my little trip. Compulsion is _so _ much fun. Come on Katerina, tell us your story. I already know most of it, but Mr. Salvatore's probably never heard it," Elijah said, looking Katherine straight in the eye.

Elijah didn't actually know that much, but he did know that there was pain for her, and he was in the mood to cause her some pain. "Tell us your story, Katerina. Tell us all about your life. Start in 1489."

Katherine's face fell.

At the back of the tomb, apparently forgotten about by Stefan and Katherine, and completely unknown to Elijah, Anton cringed and felt the disgust for himself that he had been carrying around for over 500 years intensify dramatically.

Because of this Elijah character, he was actually going to have to hear the words about what he had done.

"We don't need to do this," Stefan said to Elijah, trying to keep his voice casual, seeing the look on Katherine's face.

"Sure we do," Elijah said with a smile. "Just hold onto your words for a moment, Katerina. Commence the story when I get back. I'll just be a moment," Elijah said, getting up and exiting with a grin.

Katherine mouthed to Stefan "It worked this time."

"His compulsion?" he asked her silently, and she nodded.

"How?" he silently questioned. She had no clue. All she knew was that she wanted Stefan to leave right now.

"Leave," she mouthed. "I want you to leave. _Please_."

Stefan shook his head. He had more than one reason for refusing to leave. One was that if Elijah really was planning on making her tell her whole story, they'd eventually get to the topic about what she had been doing in Mystic Falls, and he'd have to find a way to make that not happen. The other was that he would finally know the truth about things he'd been thinking about for so long.

Elijah was walking back to the tomb after having a quick phone conversation and he saw Damon and Elena, who had seen him first. Damon grabbed Elena quickly and kissed her, pretending like he hadn't seen Elijah. He didn't want Elijah asking why he and Elena were around. They'd come to talk to Katherine, but Elijah did not need to know that. Kissing Elena was the first thing he could think of that they could use as an excuse to be out here. As Elena was about to say something or possibly slap the taste out of his mouth, Damon mumbled "just go with it."

_Oh lovely, now Elijah's gonna think I'm some kind of tramp- hopping from one brother to the other in a week. Please don't let him tell Stefan. Stefan will think I broke up with him for Damon for sure if Elijah tells him he saw us kissing. I know Damon's only trying to cover for us so Elijah doesn't ask what we're doing around here, but really, he couldn't have thought of something other than kissing me? Friends should not be kissing friends like that._

"Hello Damon, Elena," Elijah said with a laugh.

"I came out here to be alone with her, yet I'm _still_ not alone with her," Damon said, trying to sound annoyed.

"I got the feeling that the relationship between Miss Gilbert and your brother might be over, I guess I was right. My apologies for interrupting," Elijah said, laughing again. "But I saw you, and just had to extend an invitation to you both. I think you might not be so angry with me for interrupting you if you accept the invitation."

"What invitation?" Damon asked.

"Your relative," he said to Elena, "and your former lover," he said to Damon "is about to give us her autobiography. I thought you two might like to hear her story- answer some questions you may have."

"No offence but, if we had any questions we could just ask her," Elena said. "There's not really a point, though, since she'd probably just lie to us anyway."

"No offence taken," Elijah said, laughing again. "But she can't lie this time."

Damon realized what he was saying. "He's going to compel her to tell the truth," he said to Elena.

"Oh," Elena said.

"So, would you care to come along?"

Damon and Elena nodded. What else were they supposed to do?

"Remain quiet, though. I don't want them to know you're there," was the last thing Elijah said.

Elijah came back. "Okay Katerina, tell us your story. Tell us the truth. "

"Send Stefan away," Katherine said. "Please."

"No."

"_Please_ send him away," she practically begged.

"No," Elijah said again.

"He doesn't need to hear this stuff. Send him away," Katherine pleaded.

"No."

Katherine started to speak, she had to. Elijah had just compelled her after all, and this time it worked because she felt the words ready to roll off her tongue. She didn't know why his compulsion worked, maybe it was because she hadn't been expecting it and hadn't been able to prepare herself to be able to resist it. It must have been because she wasn't prepared. The other times, after that first time he had compelled her, she had sort of readied herself for it, but today when she saw him she really didn't think that he would try to compel her in front of Stefan. There was nothing she could do right now other than start to speak.

Katherine bit her lip as she started to speak. She did _not_ want to do this. She did not want to have to go through it all over again. She especially did not want to have to do this in front of Stefan. "I _hate _you," Katherine spat at Elijah before taking herself back over 500 years.

"I'd already had the eyes of many boys and many men by 1489. Let's be honest, I was getting ogled since I hit puberty at 11, years before 1489. But 1489- well, I was a good girl back then. I was still innocent in every way... My favourite cousin had died, and my father wasn't in Bulgaria at the time. I don't remember _why_ he wasn't there. He just wasn't. It was the day of my cousin's funeral and my father's close friend who was almost like family to us, family that I personally didn't like much- and his son- accompanied my mother and my grandmother and myself there. When it was over my mom and grandmother wanted to spend some time with my aunt because she was grief-stricken, but I couldn't handle that and I just wanted to go home," Katherine paused for a moment and tried to compose herself. She would not let Elijah get to her.

"I wanted to go home and my father's friend and his son offered to take me back. They were like family, even though I didn't really like them, so it wasn't out of the ordinary. Instead of taking me home after the funeral, though, they said they just needed to stop somewhere to get something and then we'd be on our way," Katherine said, absentmindedly picking up a rock from the ground.

"They took me to some kind of barn and then the father closed the door behind us, and then I started to get a little worried. I asked what they needed to get... and then the father told me that _I _ was what they needed to get," Katherine said, gripping the rock tightly, wishing that she could kill Elijah right this second.

"The dad said the son, Andrei, should get me first since he was younger and because it would be his first time. Pure little innocent me even knew what that meant and I tried to make a run for it. I didn't get very far." Katherine was gripping the rock so hard that her hand was oozing blood at this point.

"My clothes got ripped off and they had their way with me."

Stefan couldn't believe what he was hearing and Katherine seemed to be trying to look anywhere but at him. Stefan remembered hearing the name Andrei before. Why was the name familiar? And then Stefan remembered. Anton said that he killed this guy. _ Good, at least Anton did one good thing in his stupid life._

"What were you thinking while all this was happening? Give some details," Elijah asked with a smirk and Katherine picked up the rock and threw it straight at him.

"That's _more_ than enough. Leave her the hell alone," Stefan hissed, hatred rising up inside of him.

Elijah turned and glared at Stefan and Katherine suddenly feared for Stefan.

Katherine finally looked his way, and Stefan saw the look in Katherine's eye and composed himself. "I told you, whatever you plan to do with her later is up to you, but I can't stand unnecessary cruelty, I don't care who it is. It's just not decent."

Elijah seemed satisfied and just rolled his eyes.

She tried so hard not to speak, but Elijah's compulsion commanded her to. "I wanted to die, I wanted them to die, I wanted my father to come and save me... Obviously, that didn't happen... Even if the situation was entirely different there would have been blood- you know what with me being a virgin and all. But the bastards were brutes, especially the father who ended up going first- the bleeding didn't stop. It felt like they had torn me open. It wasn't so much cruelty on Andrei's part- it's that he didn't know what the fuck he was doing... When they were done with me, the father left first and Andrei had looked back at me, and he actually looked pretty disgusted with himself. The dumbass said he was sorry and found a blanket and covered me with it and handed me a cloth, then he ran off following his dad." If Katherine actually had food inside of her she would have thrown up by now from how sick retelling all of this was making her. There was a reason she tried not think about the past. It made her remember a time when she wasn't strong, a time when she couldn't defend herself from scum.

"I literally couldn't walk afterwards, so obviously I couldn't make it home myself... I don't know how many hours went by with me just lying there, but eventually my mother and grandmother found me. That stupid bastard friend of my father told them that I ended up going my own way right after we left the funeral. My mom and grandmother came looking for me and when they found me, I swear to God, I thought they were both going to have a heart attack. I didn't want anyone from the town to see me. It was already dark when they'd found me so we weren't all that worried about being seen.

They did the best job they could to clean me up, but we were in an abandoned barn so really all we could do there was hope that the cloth could stop my bleeding. They wrapped me in the blanket as best as they could and then they carried me home. My mother and my tiny little grandmother each took one end of me and carried me home on the forty-five minute walk."

Stefan was picturing it all in his head and his blood was boiling. He knew this was all true. He could tell from her voice and because Katherine was refusing to look at him.

"When we got home, they cleaned me up properly and put me in my bed and my mother burned the clothes that had been ripped off of me. They knew what had happened but I didn't tell them who'd done it. I just wanted that out of my head for awhile... It took me a few hours, but I finally fell asleep. My mother told me I slept for 15 hours straight. The next day I got up and walked around a bit- it still hurt, but it was better than the night before. My mother asked me again that day who did it and I finally told her. I'd literally just gotten the father's name out of my mouth and she took off- I never even got the son's name out... About 40 minutes later guess who showed up to my house?" Katherine said with a tired and sad laugh.

"The son, Andrei, showed up at my door and told me that my mother had just killed his father and that he saw it. He told me that he wouldn't tell anyone as long as I never mentioned what he had done to me. I agreed and I kept my mouth shut and he kept his shut too... My mother came home about five minutes after he left. She came over to me, kissed my cheek and promised me that man would never touch me again. To this day I don't know exactly what she did, but she protected me, she made sure he'd never come near me again," Katherine said, a ghost of a smile forming on her lips, thinking about her mother.

"Months and months went by before I could look at a guy who wasn't my father without cringing or having some kind of internal freak out. Eventually it got better, and around that time a new family moved into our town, right next to us. There was a guy not too much older than me- he totally had a thing for me. He was a nice guy. He was sweet. It took awhile, but I started to like him too. We started spending a lot of time together and he even asked my father if it would be alright if he took me to this town festival thing. My dad liked him and gave him the OK.

"We danced and danced and then some idiot dared him to steal some liquor. He started drinking and then he told me I should have some too. I said no to him and he drank some more. After about half an hour I saw Andrei and he was staring at me and my date like the guy had stolen me away from him or something. I didn't want to have to see him or deal with him so I took my date up on the offer to take a drink. He'd already drunk so much. I grabbed the bottle from him and downed a bit- I don't remember all that much except that I ended up alone with him in a barn- _another_ fucking barn," Katherine said, her teeth clenched.

"I freaked out as soon as I noticed that we were in a barn and I practically ran out of there. He grabbed my arm and asked me what was wrong. He asked if he'd done something wrong- and he hadn't at all at that point. I felt bad and told him sorry for freaking out. We both had some more to drink and before long he was kissing me and telling me how beautiful I was. I wanted to run because I kept remembering what had happened months before, but I didn't. I kissed him back, telling myself that it wasn't normal to still be so freaked out, and besides, he was only kissing me.

"After awhile, he wanted to do more than kiss me and I pushed him away. He told me I was being mean, he only wanted to be with me. He kissed me again and before a minute had passed he had me on the ground. I told him I didn't want to do this and I tried to push him off, but I don't even think he heard me anymore. He was drunk and he wanted me, anything else- he either couldn't or just wouldn't hear. He kissed me again and promised me he wouldn't hurt me. He said he loved me. I kept trying to get him off of me, but there was no point- he was too big and too drunk," she sighed.

"Once again, me, the ground and a barn- the only difference was it was only one guy this time and instead of treating me like absolute shit, he kept whispering how beautiful I was and that he loved me over and over again while he raped me. When he was done he asked me why I was crying, and he helped me up- drunk-ass moron. I slapped him across the face and I told him never to come near me again, never to speak to me again. I told him that I'd never forgive him. I put my clothes back on and left as _he_ started to cry," she said with a shake of her head.

"My mother knew something was wrong as soon as she saw me again. She and my grandmother pulled me aside and asked what happened, I told them I wanted to go home and sleep. Like the last time, they asked me the next day and then I told them. This time, though, my grandmother was actually mad at me as well as the guy because we had been drinking- I never told them who it was this time... Some time passed and then the joys of morning sickness were bestowed on me. The neighbour boy had knocked me up."

Stefan's hands were in fists. _Anton!_

Anton's head was in his hands at the back of the tomb, and tears were in his eyes.

"The day I found out that I was pregnant, he came by my house. He told me he knew I didn't want to see him again, but he couldn't stand me hating him. He begged for my forgiveness and said that he would never drink again because it turned him into a different person. He said he loved me, and he really did mean it. I knew he did, but that didn't make anything better. He said he hoped he hadn't hurt me, that he never wanted to hurt me. He told me he would leave me alone, that he wouldn't bother me again, but he just needed me to know that he was sorry. When he finished talking, I just nodded and I shut the door. He kept his word, he left me alone. I'd heard from some of my cousins that he'd changed a lot, they said he seemed depressed. I never told them what happened to me so I knew they weren't making it up... He hated himself for what he did, but I couldn't forgive him," Katherine said pausing for a minute.

"When my father found out I was pregnant, he didn't believe me when I told him what had happened to me- and I never did tell anyone who had done it. He thought I was making it up. As soon as there was the slightest showing that I was pregnant, he basically put me on house arrest. I wasn't allowed out of my house. Couldn't be allowed to 'shame the family' of course. By the time I was about seven months pregnant, Mr. Knocked-Me-Up shows up at my house. His father had sent him over with something for my dad. Anyway, he was in the kitchen because my mom had something she wanted to give to his mother too. She was out back getting whatever it was that she wanted his mother to have. I walked in, not knowing he was there and I almost freaked out. He didn't know I was pregnant until right that second," she said, taking an unnecessary breath.

"He looked at me and his jaw dropped. After about a minute he pointed to himself, asking me without asking me out loud if he was the one who got me pregnant. I just nodded. I didn't even have the energy to lie. He reached out, wanting to take my hand or touch my stomach, or something, but I backed away, and he stopped himself- I guess remembering what he had promised me. He kept saying sorry over and over again and he said he would keep his word and leave me alone. He said he wouldn't ever disgrace me or anyone else with his presence again. And then he just left, not even waiting for my mother to come back... About five minutes later I heard a gunshot. He shot himself right in the head...

"When I first found out that I was pregnant I was so scared, and I just wanted to cry. I mean wasn't it bad enough that he raped me, now I had to be stuck with a constant reminder of it, too? That changed for me within that first month of knowing. I told myself that the baby was mine, and only mine- it wasn't his. Right from the beginning I just knew it would be a girl and I told myself that she was gonna be the best gift ever and that I just needed to forget _how_ I got her, and if I couldn't do that, I told myself to just think that if things were different and he'd never taken advantage of me, I'd still have this baby sooner or later and it would have been his anyway. If we kept seeing each other and were happy with each other, I would have fallen in love with him eventually. Our parents would have set up a wedding for us- guaranteed... That baby inside me- I wanted her. I loved her even though I didn't love _him_. I was going to take care of her. I was going to protect her. I was going to make her happy." Katherine quickly turned around and away from Stefan and Elijah.

She tried not to think about the past too much, because when she would think about her daughter or mother it would kill her inside. It hurt too much to let herself feel more than a little bit here and there. She would usually just find her switch and shut off the emotions, things were easier that way- but it was getting so much harder... She would never let that bastard Elijah see her cry, _never_. And she didn't want Stefan to see her cry. She did _not_ want him feeling sorry for her.

"The night before I gave birth to her, my father told me that someone would be taking her and he told me that I would be on my way. He was going to banish me because I 'shamed' my family and I wouldn't get to keep my daughter either. My mother started to yell at him, but there was nothing she could do. Morning came and my girl was ready to come out, but it took a long time. I was in labour for eighteen hours... My mother helped me deliver her," Katherine said, now lost in her story, almost forgetting she had an audience.

"It took eighteen hours for her to come out. My mom held her, she told me it was a girl. I told my mother to let me see her, but my father told her no. Then he had my baby and I begged to hold her, just once, _at least_ once. He wouldn't let me… He took her away from me- never let me hold her, look at her, or even give her her name. He said that I disgraced the family and he took her away. And that is when my father became a monster to me. I hated him. I didn't think I could ever forgive him. It felt like he ripped my insides out. I felt like I was dying. I was pretty close to a panic attack. My mom tried to comfort me and calm me down, but it didn't work... A couple days later my father kicked me out. My mom was close to a breakdown, so I put on a brave face for her and I told her I'd be fine, but she had to make me a promise. I told her that she had to find my baby and tell her I loved her, and I begged her somehow to get me a portrait of her. I told her I would come back someday and that no one would be able to banish me again or keep my kid away from me...

"Eventually I ended up in England where I met this bastard," she said, motioning to Elijah "and the other bastard Klaus," she spat. "Both wanted to get in my pants, or I guess we'd say under my dress-"

"I did not-" Elijah started.

"You compelled me to tell the truth. I'm only doing what you asked," Katherine smirked, getting some of her fire back. "I changed when I got to England. I swore that I'd never be any man's victim again and that until I got to see my daughter, out there, _I _ came first. The only thing that was important was taking care of myself... You want to know why Elijah hates me, Stefan? It's because I didn't sleep with him, and because I tricked him. When I found out what Klaus wanted, besides sleeping with me- the whole Petrova sacrifice thing- you know to drain me of my blood to break the stupid sun/moon curse, I knew I had to run. This one," she pointed at Elijah, "found me before anyone else. He told me that if I would be with him, that he would protect me. I knew that was a bunch of bullshit, and that he'd have sex with me and hand me over to Klaus, but I agreed just so I could get out of there. As soon as I had the chance to ditch him, I did, because I knew he'd hand me back to Klaus when he got what he wanted from me. After all was said and done, from what I heard, Elijah was not exactly in Klaus's good graces for awhile. Klaus wasn't too happy about finding out that this one tried to get with me," Katherine grinned.

"There was another guy, though, I knew he meant it when he said he would help me. He was a vampire, too, but he was younger than Elijah and Klaus and I knew that he wasn't the same as them. He was a good guy, he really wanted to help. In the end I screwed him over. It wasn't something that necessarily made me happy, but I had to look out for myself. He had sent me to where Rose was and she wanted to send me right back. She didn't want to cross Klaus... I was not going to let Klaus get me, let him drain me dry. I was _not_ going to die, especially without ever seeing my daughter's face. He needed a human Petrova doppelganger's blood, and I was going to make sure that he couldn't use me for his plan.

"I hurt myself on purpose when I knew that Rose planned on handing me back to Klaus, I knew she would give me her blood to heal the wound. That's when Trevor came back and I ran into the next room and killed myself," Katherine said with a laugh that wasn't a happy one. "And bing-bang-boom, I was a vampire- they couldn't use me to help them remove the curse anymore. After I'd hidden and headed out and thought I was off their radar, which took quite awhile, I couldn't wait anymore, I had to go back to Bulgaria. It was late 1492. I had to meet my daughter, I had to get her and I wanted to see my mother so bad. I wasn't worried about being a vampire, I knew I wouldn't hurt them. Believe it or not Stefan, I wasn't always an evil bitch vampire. I wasn't as good as you are now, but with the exception of the woman I drained literally seconds after I'd become a vampire, I never _killed_ anyone, not until after I went home," Katherine said, glaring at Elijah now.

"This dirty little bastard and Klaus got to my home before I did. They killed them all. They killed all my family."

"I did not, Katerina. I was not involved," Elijah said, but Stefan didn't believe him for a second.

"I want you to know that if I ever did have the chance to get out of here, I would _slaughter _you and Klaus. I would kill you, but I would drag it out. I would torture you first- so slow. I'd make you wish for death," Katherine said with an evil grin on her face... "But anyway, back to my story as you so sweetly requested, Elijah," Katherine continued, her expression changing again.

"I went inside and there was so much blood. They killed my cousins, my aunt, my uncle, my father, my grandmother... and my mother. I was actually grateful after that that my stupid father gave my baby away. I was so happy these monsters didn't know about her... I would have went insane after I saw what I saw, and after I buried my family but I had to find my kid- I had to see her and make sure whoever the hell had her had been taking care of her... I hadn't noticed it when I first got back, but they'd also destroyed a bunch of the houses in our little village and then I started to really get scared because what if my daughter lived around here. What if she'd lived in one those houses? I started to run then. I had to find her. I didn't know what she looked like, but I'd know her if I saw her, I just knew I would... and I did- in the house right on the border with the next village, the one with the door torn off and the dead man and woman lying in the entranceway- the one with the little girl curled into a ball beside them, crying.

"Before she even looked up, I _felt _it. Blood calls to blood. I knew she was mine. It had been almost three years since she had been born... She looked up at me with my mother's eyes- _my_ eyes, and suddenly she stopped crying," Katherine stopped for a second, smiling a bit.

"She was the most beautiful thing I'd ever seen. If you ever wanted to know what perfection was- it was her… She got up and she just came to me. She walked straight to me and it took everything in me not to cry. She held out her little arms and she called me _mama,_" Katherine said, now staring intently at her fingers.

"I picked her up and I never wanted to let her go. I kissed her and I held her close and then she said it again, she said _mama,_and she looked at me and I nodded. I asked this tiny little thing how she knew who I was, and she said from the portrait the nice lady always showed to her. It had to have been my mother, somehow managing to find her and somehow sneakily getting to see her," Katherine said, with a full-on smile. There was definitely sadness twinged in it, Stefan saw it, but she was happy about thinking of them together.

"Elijah, I swear, one way or another you and Klaus are going to regret the day you met me. If I ever get out of here, you're _dead. _ And if it's just me who ends up dead, I'm going to haunt you for the rest of your damn existence."

"Get on with the story Katerina," Elijah said with a smile.

"We walked and walked and walked, I was getting her the hell away from the village. She asked what would happen to her parents now. She knew they were dead- that they were gone, but she didn't know what that meant. I told her that it would just be like they were sleeping for a very long time. She asked if they were scared in their sleep and I told her that they were very calm and relaxed…She asked me if it was true that I didn't love her. Her 'mother' had apparently told her that, but _my_ mother- it must have been my mother, kept telling her that was not true. She told her that I loved her very much and that one day I would come back for her... She was a smart kid, I had full-on conversations with her in those few days," Katherine said.

"I asked her if the parents were good to her. I asked her if she loved them. She said her daddy was always nice and that she loved him, but that her so-called mother, dirty little bitch, wasn't always nice to her. She was the one who told her that they weren't really her parents and that they only had her because her real mother didn't want her... I'd realized that we'd been walking for hours, and I didn't even know what name she had been given was. They'd named her Galina. She said she didn't like her name very much," Katherine laughed.

"It pissed me off that some other people named my kid…She asked me if I thought that she looked like me and I said yes. She _did_ look like me- not doppelganger like me, but if you looked at her next to me, you'd know she was mine. I asked her why she asked me that, and she said it was because I was beautiful and if she looked like me, then it would mean she was beautiful too. I told her that she was the most beautiful thing I'd ever seen in my life... After awhile she told me she was getting tired and I asked her if she was comfortable where she was and she said yes- she said I felt comfy like her bed," Katherine grinned.

"I told her to go to sleep and then she said 'What about you mama? Don't you want to sleep? How are you going to sleep if you keep walking and holding me?' I told her I wasn't tired and then she told me that she could stay awake in case I got bored and wanted to talk. I told her that I'd be fine and that if I wanted to talk, I'd wake her up. She fell asleep against me as we walked after about five minutes. I just kept walking for hours. Things I didn't want to think about kept popping into my head but I kept shoving them out. Part of me was actually tempted to wake her up to distract me from the things I was thinking, but I didn't. She looked peaceful, even after everything that had happened that night.

"After a few more hours I finally stopped. I knew that she would need to eat soon and I could smell bread being baked. It was still on the dark side, but it was about 5 am, it was morning, so I didn't feel too bad when I walked into the bakery even though it was closed. The woman started to tell me to get out, but then she saw me holding her and I knew she'd give me what I wanted without making me wait until she was actually open. About 5 minutes after I got into the bakery, my daughter woke up and told me and the old woman exactly what kind of bread she wanted. She ate and she was constantly looking around the woman's store, it was more than just a bakery, she had other stuff that she sold too. She probably made the stuff. I asked my daughter what she wanted and she pointed to a sort of teddy bear. I asked her if that was all she wanted and she nodded, but it looked like she wanted something else too. I told her she could have whatever she wanted, and she looked really happy and then she told me that she wanted to get a new blanket since she lost her other one. She said she liked to sleep under the covers but that she also had to have a blanket to hold onto while she slept. She picked one but then she put it back and I asked her why. She told me she wanted a bigger one so that I could hold onto it, too… I'll never forgive you two assholes, Elijah, _never_. You two cost me getting to stay with my kid," Katherine said with venom.

"Because I knew you were still after me, I couldn't stay with her. Because of you two, I had a total of three days with her, and only glimpses or small interactions that lasted for only minutes spread out over the years after that… After she'd eaten and we'd bought the other two things, she asked me where we were going and I told her we were going to find a house- I just didn't mention that I wasn't going to be able to stay there with her," Katherine said throwing something against the wall.

"We walked a bunch again and after hearing a certain name, I knew that this was the place for her… As we had walked the night before, I wasn't keeping track of specific villages and towns we went through, but after hearing the name, I knew where we were now. We were in the town that most of my mother's family had lived in until they moved closer to where I was from. But some old friends of the family still lived in this town, which I was reminded of when I heard the name Bilyana Dimov.I hadn't been in this area for about ten years, but I still remembered clearly where the particular person I was looking for lived. She had been a friend of my mother's. I decided that I could approach her later in the day because I wasn't ready to share my kid's company with anyone else yet. She asked me if I knew this place and I told her I used to visit when I was a kid.

"For whatever reason, she seemed to love the idea that I was a kid at one point and she asked me a bunch of questions about when I was small. I didn't think a child that was a couple months away from being three years old could talk so well and ask and understand so much, but she could. After I'd finished telling her about me as a kid she looked up at me and asked 'What's my real name, mama? What's my name that you picked?' She really surprised me with that question, but made me smile so much with it, too," Katherine said, closing her eyes. "_Rayna_, I told her. She thought it was a very pretty name and said it was much better than Galina.

"I asked her if she knew what it meant, which of course she didn't. I told her it meant Queen, which made her like it even more and she asked me if it would be okay if she chose that name to use... We just spent hours talking and laughing and running around playing. I took her to this place that I'd played in when I was a kid and she just looked so happy, like she didn't have a care in the world. I would have given anything to have been able to have a normal life with her, to have stayed with her... I knew I'd have to leave her soon. I knew it wasn't safe to stay with her long. I knew I still had Klaus' little mob after me. After a few more hours, we made our way to my mother's friend's house," Katherine sighed.

"Long story short, my stay there ended the next day, with compulsion. The story would be that the friend took in my daughter after tragedy befell her family. Everything was always so focused on the name of your father or husband that I knew Rayna would be safe with my mother's name. I was always closer to my mother, and just because she took my father's last name and I was given his name too, it didn't mean that I wasn't a Vasilieva like my mother- I was, and now my daughter would be too. I completely changed my daughter's name from the one she'd grown up with, partly to make sure that if somehow word came out about me having a kid and who she was given to, they would never know her now- wouldn't be able to hurt her. And second of all, it should have been me to name her in the first place...I gave them stories to remember about the circumstances that led to her being there and who she was," Katherine said, pausing for a minute.

"I made them both forget seeing me... I made my daughter forget meeting me, but I told her to remember that I would always love her, and if she was ever feeling sad or scared or alone, all she needed to do was hug the teddy bear or blanket and it would be like I was there with her. I held her so close. I didn't want to let her go, but I did. I had to, and then I left."

Stefan was staring at Katherine, and she tried not to look back at him. "Don't feel sorry for me, Stefan. I'm not that girl anymore. I've done a bunch of evil things since then. Do _not _ feel sorry for me. That girl's been dead for over 500 years," Katherine said quietly. "If you're going to be feeling anything for me, sorry isn't the feeling I'm looking for."

Stefan was still staring at her. He didn't know what to say.

"The second I walked out of that town, the old me was gone. Katerina Petrova was dead. Everything good was gone. That switch we've got inside of us- I used it. I turned off my emotions. I was sick of the hurt, so I just made the feelings go away. I stopped giving a damn about right and wrong. I stopped caring about people's feelings, about their lives. I didn't want to feel anymore. I was done with all this human stuff. I was a vampire and I was going to do whatever the hell I wanted, take whatever the hell I wanted. And I did. The first guy I saw, I dragged into an alley and drained him dry," Katherine said.

"Elijah and Klaus- there was no one I hated more...By this point, I pretty much had a hate on for most men, though, based on all my experiences with them. I swore no man would _ever _ take advantage of me again, would ever hurt me again... I'd take what I want from them from now on and then I'd throw them away when I felt like it... They were dirtbags, who only wanted one thing- which I know sounds really hypocritical because I only had sex and blood on _my_ mind also where they were concerned, but it's not like _they_ knew that. They all just fit in great with my model of men- either hurting me in some way or just wanting my body, or both. It was like every guy wanted the same thing with me, but they'd all get a lovely surprise when they ended up being _my_ bitch," Katherine said.

"Skip to 1864," Elijah said with a grin. "That was quite the year for you."

Katherine did not look pleased at all, but Stefan sat up straighter and was ready to hear this, he _needed _ to hear this.

"Elijah, have I told you recently that I hate your guts?" Katherine asked with fake sweetness.

Elijah just grinned some more. "That was quite the year for your love life. Do tell."

"Send Stefan away," Katherine said. "Please. I'm serious."

"I think not, Katerina- he was a big part of that year. I think he should stay," Elijah grinned. "Get on with it Katerina. Tell us about the year of you and the Salvatores."

Both Stefan and Anton, at opposite ends of the tomb, sat up a little straighter.


	55. Chapter 55

**o-0-o-0-o Thanks so much to Hooked-On-TVD, celia, laugh4life, stelena lover, Marie, Raya, David Fishwick, Tina and Anna-Lisa for reviewing last chapter, and thanks to those who have favourited the story, too. Chapter 55 is here. Please take a little bit of time to leave me a review, even if it's a very short one. Reviews are always very appreciated. Enjoy! o-0-o-0-o**

Elena had tears in her eyes and Damon's hands were balled into fists. How could anyone hear what had happened to Katherine and not feel some kind of emotion of sympathy, or anger, or sadness, even if they had their own issues with her now, even if they might have hated her? It probably wasn't possible.

She had been a bitch to him, and there was a lot that Damon was _not_ sorry for saying or doing to Katherine recently, but there was one thing that he said to her, and he couldn't get it out of his head now. There was one thing that now kept repeating in his head and he felt quite sick about it: "_What's your story with the mystery man? Did you steal him from the girl next door? Did you get him drunk and seduce him and get knocked up so that you could have him all to yourself? So young and already a tramp. I can just picture it."_

Damon remembered how she reacted when he had said that to her. If there hadn't been the tomb's magical barrier separating them he knew she would have kicked his ass badly. But she couldn't touch him so she had picked up the largest rock she could see and she aimed it straight for his head. Stefan had rushed down and asked what was going on- what was wrong. Katherine's response had been: _"Your brother likes to talk shit about things he has __no __knowledge of."_

Yeah, she was right. He had no knowledge about that stuff at all.

Elena was glad that they couldn't speak right now because she had no idea what to even say about the things she had heard. So many bad things had happened to Katherine, but it was clear from her voice that she didn't want to be felt sorry for. There was a sick feeling inside of Elena when the thought finally entered her mind that she was alive today because Katherine had been held down and violated over 500 years ago. That was pretty disturbing.

"Come on Katerina. 1864. Start talking," Elijah ordered.

Damon was torn between wanting to hear this and not wanting to.

Katherine glared at Elijah as she started to speak. "My official arrival in Mystic Falls was when Emily and I got out of the carriage in front of your place and met you for the first time," she said, turning to look at Stefan.

She didn't want him here. Yeah, he'd finally have to believe that she loved him, but she didn't want to have to explain all the bad parts out loud. She felt a bit sick at having to say everything out loud. Regardless of that, she couldn't stand to look at Elijah, so she directed everything to Stefan.

"I tell you, _that_ was my favourite first meeting with a guy ever," Katherine said with a little smile. "I took one look at you, _gorgeous_ you- and told myself that I would have you. And then you came down the steps and we made our introductions and I sensed something about you, right from then- there was a lot of good in you. I'd never really come across that before. I'd never been able to sense something like that so quick- but in you I did," she said, shutting her eyes for a moment.

"You were taken with me the second you saw me," Katherine said with a smile. "I was used to that. But, with the exception of Trevor and Rayna's dad, when he wasn't drunk and doing what he did- there was a little something different about the glint in your eye when you looked at me compared so many other guys. Oh, I knew you wanted me, but it wasn't _just _that... You were sweet and it was _genuine_, and right from that first day, Stefan, you were already different in my eyes than any other guy... Oh don't get me wrong, I was still going to have you- there was no way I wasn't going to have you- you were hot," she said with a laugh.

"I was going to have you, but I decided within two minutes of talking to you that I'd leave you perfectly well. I wouldn't leave you screwed up, or like some of my others- hurt or dead. To anyone's ears that might not be impressive, but you've got to know that at that time, in close to 400 years as a vampire, I had _never _decided something like that... Sure I was still being selfish as hell, and it was sort of a game with you. I was a vampire and I did what so many of us do- I turned off my emotions, I locked away my heart so that even I couldn't find it most of the time, and I took what I wanted from whoever I wanted, but you were special right from the first day, Stefan. I did _not_ want to hurt you, _at all._In all my time as a vampire from the second I left Rayna until I met you, that had never happened. Sure, I didn't hurt _all _the guys I'd come across, but I'll admit it, there was always a part of me that loved the thought that I could make them hurt- even if it just meant that I'd leave them wanting me and never able to have me again," she said, conflicted on whether to still look at Stefan or not.

"We saw a lot of each other over the next while. I really liked being around you, and that was kind of a weird thing for me with guys. Normally my routine with guys was sex, taking their blood, sometimes hurting or killing them afterward and then ditching them pretty quick. I had no desire to continue spending time with them... You and I got close. And I got _jealous_- me who _never _got jealous. I was pissed when I found out that that girl Danielle was interested in you and kept coming around you. I wanted to snap her neck. I got annoyed with myself because I didn't do the whole jealous thing, and because I wasn't the girl who had little fluttery feelings when I saw a guy. I tried to explain it to myself. I kept telling myself you were just a toy and I was only acting crazy because I still didn't get to really play with you yet. So then I decided I was going to remedy that quickly. I was going to have your blood and your body and I wasn't going to wait much longer for it," Katherine said, now really not wanting to look Stefan in the eye.

"It might seem stupid or crazy, but for me to think that maybe I cared about you, at that point in time- I couldn't even _think_ that, because I didn't really do the whole caring thing. My daughter was everything to me and I loved her, but other than her- I closed my heart to everyone. I pretty much only let it open up when I'd check on her over the years, and her kids and hers and so on. Even the little group I'd made friends with- sure I liked them well enough, but with the exception of Pearl and Emily, but especially Emily, it wouldn't matter if I never saw them again, it wouldn't matter if they died. I'm not quite sure how, but I grew to have a very big soft spot for Emily Bennett- but the point is that if I cared, it wasn't something I ever said out loud or admitted to anyone, _myself_ included... There was some town event coming up in the next few days and I decided that I was going to have you on that night and I'd get the weirdness out of my system," Katherine said with a sigh.

"The son of your neighbour's neighbour, I can't remember his name anymore, but I couldn't stand that guy. He was a slimy little bastard. He was a jackass to you and I already wanted to make him pay for that, but then add on what he said to me, and I swear I wanted to drain the life out of him. I changed my plan and decided not to take your blood that night because I was going to drain every ounce of his instead."

"What did he say to you?" Elijah asked, amused.

"It was me, Katherine, three of the guys from the town and the idiot," Stefan said, beginning to answer, remembering back to the occasion. "We were waiting outside the Lockwood mansion, not wanting to go into whatever party was going on yet. One of the guys had just told us that the girl he'd been crazy about for the past two years said she would marry him. We had all said congratulations and Katherine had said his fiancée was a lucky girl. And then the idiot neighbour of my neighbour, Daniel, turns to her and says 'Don't worry I'll make you a lucky girl soon, too. You can't stay with the Salvatore family forever and goodness knows you couldn't take care of yourself. I'll have to take pity on you because you have no family. I'll make you mine and you'll have a bunch of my babies."

Katherine was surprised that Stefan remembered that. "And then you told him that I could stay in your home as long as I wanted to. Then you told him that I could have any man in Mystic Falls that I wanted and that I'd never pick someone like him," Katherine said with a bit of a smile. "And then you said even if I ever did pick him- _he_ would have been the one who was lucky, not me."

Elena was listening to the story intently from hers and Damon's unseen position. This was her glimpse into 1864.

"And then you warned him never to talk to me like that again," Katherine said, continuing. "I don't know, Stefan. It was like with every word you said and thing you did where I was concerned- you were slowly doing quite the number on me... After you said that, he glared at you-"

"And he said to me 'Who would she pick then, if not me? You think she'd pick _you_ over me?" Stefan said, continuing where Katherine left off.

"I shut him up real quick after that," Katherine said. "I told him that I'd _definitely_ pick you over him, that I'd never be with him- not even if he was the last man on earth. That sent him off in a hurry," Katherine said with a laugh. "And then I told you I wasn't feeling well and that I was just going to go back to your house and lie down. You being you, insisted on walking me back. It was sweet but it was interfering with my plans for that idiot," Katherine said.

"Emily never was up ahead, was she?" Stefan asked Katherine. "You'd only said that so I'd go back to the Lockwood mansion."

"Half-way back to your place I told you I saw Emily up ahead. Yes, I lied," she said. "I told you Emily was up ahead and that I would go with her, and you finally agreed to head back. As soon as you left I went to find that idiot boy, but it turns out that he was looking for me too. He was heading back to the Lockwood house and we met halfway. He thought he could bully me and scare me and make me apologize for saying what I said- little did he know what I had planned for him."

"Did you kill him?" Elijah asked, seemingly trying to remind them he was there too.

"Nope," Katherine said. "I wanted to, but Stefan ended up coming back... Daniel, you said, that was his name right?" Katherine asked Stefan.

He nodded.

"Well Daniel saw me and then came over. Stupid boy got in my face and tried to scare me. He started yelling at me. He was so pissed. He started going off on me saying, 'Who do you think you are? You're a stupid cow with no family and no future.' I knew it would piss him off even more so I started to laugh... Sure enough, it made him angrier," She said, laughing a bit.

"He grabbed my arm and started pulling me off in a different direction. I let him. I just wanted to see what this idiot thought he was going to do to me. He kept saying 'I'll teach you what you get for trying to humiliate me. I'll have you begging for forgiveness.' By that point I was ready to tear out his throat but I contained myself and let him drag me to wherever he was planning. He'd been dragging me for about ten minutes and I didn't stop him because I knew he was taking me somewhere out of the way where people couldn't see. That would serve me perfectly well for when I drained him dry. We went through the forest area until he finally stopped- not too far from here actually, if I remember correctly," she said.

"Yeah, it was close by here. It's not horse stables and barns anymore. It's just greenery with some benches," Stefan said.

"Me and barns," Katherine said, sighing. "So when we got to where he wanted to go, he threw me to the ground. And I remember giving him a huge grin as he did that, and then I whispered that he was going to be very sorry as I vamped out. His face completely changed. He looked like he was going to piss his pants. Before I knew it though, you were running towards us. I changed back so you wouldn't see my face, and before I knew it you were shoving douche-bag Daniel away from me. He started to get up and then you knocked him out."

"I came in there and all I saw was him throwing you down. You didn't see what it looked like. If you were human I'm pretty sure something of yours would have been broken. I wanted to do more than knock him out, trust me," Stefan said.

"I didn't need to be protected. Hadn't needed it in centuries. _Certainly_ didn't need it in that situation- if anything, that idiot did- but there you were, busting through the barn doors and breaking his nose and busting up his jaw- for _me_..." Katherine went quiet for a moment.

Elena thought that Stefan hadn't really changed all that much since 1864- he was still always trying to save someone.

Elijah was apparently very into the story. He asked yet another question. "Why didn't you stay at the Lockwood estate? How did you find her?" he asked Stefan.

Stefan just laughed. "The only reason I would have went to that party was because my father wanted me to, but even then I don't think I would have gone, but then Katherine came into town and then she became the reason that I was going to go. I was about halfway back when I decided not to go, my dad would get over it. I felt bad that Katherine wasn't feeling well so I thought I'd go back home and see if she needed anything or wanted company. I found one of her gloves on the ground on the way back, and there were marks in the dirt like someone was being dragged. I assumed the worst and followed the tracks, hoping she was okay."

Elijah smiled to himself. He had an idea. He didn't like this Mystic Falls crowd and the idea of creating a bit more trouble or hurt for them made him happy. He was going to leave but keep Katherine telling her story. With him gone, Stefan would likely ask more questions and say more things that he wouldn't if Elijah was still there. Katerina would guard her emotions less. If they thought they were alone, they'd say more things. There could be some good stuff, and he'd make sure Elena and Damon stayed. Damon and Elena were apparently together now, but Elijah knew that hearing Stefan and Katherine talk so honestly would affect them, would probably make them hurt in some way- and Elijah loved that idea. He wasn't going to learn anything new, he already knew all he needed to know. Leaving wouldn't make any difference to him.

"I have to run. This has been very fun for me, but I've got places to be... Continue on, though. Tell Mr. Salvatore the truth about the rest of your story. Answer any questions he has for you. You will continue until he says to stop... Goodbye."

And with that, he left, giving Damon and Elena a wink as he walked away.

"You were the sweetest, most decent guy I'd met in all of my life, Stefan... I made one of the most unselfish decisions of my life that day- obviously in the end it didn't stick because I had to have you, but still, the fact that I had actually meant it when I decided it was a big deal."

"What did you decide?" he asked her quietly.

"I decided that I was never going to touch you, that I'd never do any of the things I'd been wanting to. No kissing you. No sleeping with you. No taking your blood. You were too good for me. I didn't want to taint you. Honestly I thought that I would ruin you, and I didn't want that at all. I was actually just going to try to be your friend and that was pretty crazy and new for me," she said quietly, finding it hard to look at him. "A real friendship with a guy was pretty new."

"I wondered why you became more distant," Stefan admitted. "You were never mean, you were always nice, but you held back for awhile. When Damon came home and you guys got to know each other and started spending more time together, I started to get jealous," Stefan said, getting caught up in memories, letting some walls down, letting the words just come out. "I'd never said it at that point, but you _knew_ I wanted you, and you had sent me plenty of signals that you had felt the same. And Damon- I missed him when he was gone. He was my _best_ friend. I was really happy when he came back, but then he was always around you and flirting when he _knew_ how I felt about you- and it hurt. _ I_ loved you first. _Me_, not him," Stefan said, just blurting words out.

Elena took a breath and closed her eyes, and Damon just stared at his hands.

Part of Katherine wanted to smile at his admission that he had loved her, but she knew it wasn't the time. "I'm sorry it hurt you... I was a vampire, Stefan, and I was selfish- that wasn't something easy to break, even if I didn't want to hurt you, and maybe I was stupid, but I didn't know that you loved me. I wasn't so sure what that was like... I wanted you, Stefan. But I told myself I couldn't have you, and I tried to stick with that, but it was getting harder and harder. And then Damon came along and it was the perfect distraction. He was hot, he was nice to me, and while I knew he wanted to sleep with me pretty much from the second he saw me, he wasn't a bad guy. He wasn't quite as good a guy as you, but give the guy credit where's it due, _no one_ was really quite as good a guy as you. I didn't feel like I could ruin him and he was nice to look at. I thought he would take my mind off of you. Part of me thought that maybe you would feel a bit less for me if you knew that I was involved with your brother, so in my own selfish and messed up way I was still trying to do something good for you. I _truly _did not intend to cause a rift between you two at the beginning. At some point later, I probably did, which is twisted, I know, but at the beginning I wasn't trying to do that."

"Twisted, yep."

"When do _you_ think I got with Damon?" Katherine asked, quite curious to know the answer.

"A little bit before Marcie started coming around for me," Stefan answered.

"Before? No. After? Yes," Katherine said. "I saw Marcie with you and I got so jealous. That first time I kissed you, I'd still never done anything with Damon at that point- _nothing,_ I hadn't even kissed him. I kissed you first. I slipped up. I wasn't supposed to do that, but I wanted you. It's not like it was easy to control myself all the time. Just because I said I wouldn't touch you didn't mean that I'd stopped _wanting_ to, and after seeing her try to make a move on you, I wanted her to know she should stay away because you were _mine_. I kissed you and it took everything in me not to bite you or pull you into the nearest room and have sex with you right then. Everything about you was screaming at me saying come and get it, take whatever you want. And then that word _take_ got stuck in my head and that calmed me down, actually. I told myself that you'd already given me more than I deserved and that I shouldn't _take _ anymore from you. I told myself that it was my turn to give, and that the best thing I could give you was me keeping my distance a bit," she said.

"After you kissed me and then had your moment of apparently caring about me, you went to find Damon, didn't you? You slept with him that night didn't you?" Stefan asked, practically sure that he was right.

"Yeah, I did... I was trying to get you out of my head," she said with a sigh.

Stefan laughed sarcastically. "What exactly am I supposed to say in response to that, Katherine?... Am I supposed to say, 'Hey, it's okay. You were only screwing my brother because you couldn't get me out of your head?' Or should I say 'You're horrible for doing that to my brother'?"

Damon rubbed the sides of his head as he listened on to his brother and Katherine.

"Whatever you want, Stefan," Katherine said tiredly. "You'll pick the one that makes me out to be the bigger bitch anyway."

"I'm honestly not trying to be an asshole, but you need to be able to put yourself in my shoes- in my brother's shoes. It wasn't right," Stefan said.

"I _know _ that, Stefan... This is going to sound like an excuse, and let's be honest, it is- but it's the _truth_. With very few exceptions, for all intents and purposes, my heart was _gone_. I was a vampire, and _not _like you. For the _most_ part, you didn't shut off your emotions, you didn't completely lock away your heart for your whole existence as a vampire. You didn't abandon the bit of humanity that we can muster up if we want to. I did- I almost completely did... Any emotions of kindness or love, or tenderness, or caring that I still had had up to that point were all for females. Any love that I had felt as a vampire was always towards females. Any love that I knew was familial or of friendship. There was a point when I loved my father, but after he took Rayna away from me, gave my baby away- that love left me for such a long time. The only love I'd felt for a man had been my father, it was familial and that got broken and that was before I ever became a vampire... And _in_ love, I'd _never_ been in love before. I carried around too much disdain for your gender in general. Some people probably would have told me to get the fuck over all the shit that happened to me before I became a vampire and just after that, but I didn't. Men had screwed me over. Men had taken advantage of me. Men had hurt me. Men had let me down. Men had treated me like an object- and then that's how I'd come to see men on the whole for the most part. For nearly 400 years I made guys my playthings. _You_ deserved better than that and your _brother _ deserved better than that- but I couldn't just change so completely, so soon," Katherine said, staring down at her hands.

"Hey," he said after a moment, calmer.

"What?"

"I'm sorry that he made you say all that other stuff before."

"Don't worry about it. It's not your fault that he's a sick bastard... It was in another life... I have to tell you what you want to know, and I will because I _have _to, but you also deserve answers, I guess... I know you don't owe me anything, but _please_ don't ask me anything else about my daughter or my mother or what happened to me before I became a vampire," Katherine said.

"I won't," he promised.

Katherine nodded her head.

"Why didn't you just cut off all ties with me?" Stefan asked her.

"A bunch of reasons," Katherine said. "First off, we technically lived in the same house, granted it was a huge one. I couldn't exactly avoid you even if I wanted to. Second off, I thought I'd hurt you if we just stopped interacting completely, and I didn't want to hurt you. Third of all, I was still selfish, Stefan. I liked seeing you. I liked talking with you. I enjoyed your company."

Stefan just let out a sigh.

"Me being with _just_ Damon didn't last long. Marcie kept coming around more and more and my blood was boiling every time I saw her near you, even if she wasn't touching you. And then I just couldn't stand it anymore. I couldn't stand to see her near you, I wanted to kill her when I saw her kiss you... You should be proud, I didn't kill her, I didn't even hurt her-"

"You compelled her to stay away from me, didn't you?" Stefan asked her. "I mean it was just as well, because I wasn't interested in her anyway- it was only you, for me," he said, shaking his head.

"It wasn't just her I was mad at, I was mad at you too."

Stefan gave her a look.

"Yeah, stupid, I know, but I was messed up. Even though I was the one who decided to keep my distance, I guess part of me just still wanted you to _only_ want me," Katherine said.

"I _did_ only want you! I didn't give a crap about that girl. She mostly just annoyed me," Stefan said.

"Well, in my eyes I was angry with you for even tolerating her presence around you. You were only supposed to have eyes for me."

"If you weren't so friggin' screwed up, it would have been the most obvious damn thing in the world to see. I didn't care about others. There were plenty of beautiful girls in this town, but I never paid attention to them- not since the _second_you stepped foot in Mystic Falls. From that first time I saw you, and all the way to the damn _end_ back then, I only had eyes for you," Stefan said, getting angry.

"You just said it Stefan, I was messed up. I was selfish and messed up. I don't know what else I'm supposed to say to you."

Stefan just leaned his head back against the tomb wall.

"I knew that if I wanted to I could have you and Damon- so in my selfishness and bitchiness over that stupid girl- I decided to play around with both of you. I shouldn't have done it, but you know what- it was fun at the time. I liked having the both of you want me, and it was kind of fun to know that I had the power to pull you two apart a bit... It was a change, having two actually truly decent guys want me. At first I didn't feel bad about it, but then sometimes I would. Then slowly, you probably didn't notice, but I'd begun to spend less time with Damon and more with you. I'd started to seriously consider just ending everything with Damon. I was kind of getting tired of leading him on- he didn't deserve it- and you didn't deserve it... I was feeling things for you that I never felt before. It was scary. I didn't know what to do. I didn't understand things that I was feeling. It was caring, but it was so much more than that- I was so freaked out." Katherine said.

"The night that I first told you I loved you-" Stefan started, Katherine closed her eyes, remembering.

"_I know we've only known each other a short while and I know I'm in competition for your affections, but I've never met a woman quite like you. I look at you and I see an angel. I touch your skin and my entire body ignites. I kiss you and I know that I'm falling in love. I am in love with you."_

"_There's just so much you don't know about me Stefan."_

"_More to learn and love."_

"_I must say goodnight."_

"_I've upset you?"_

"_No. You haven't upset me, you've just surprised me. Until tomorrow..."_

"You left pretty quick," Stefan said, continuing. "Did you go to Damon after I told you that?" Stefan asked with a sick feeling in his stomach. It was in the past, but he really did not want to hear that she went to his brother after he had told her he loved her.

Elena didn't know what to do with herself listening to all this. She wanted to know what really went down in 1864, but she also found that she could hardly handle listening to this stuff. It was the past, but she wasn't exactly enjoying hearing Stefan finally admit his past feelings for Katherine or hearing Katherine rattle on about her and Stefan.

"_No_. No, I didn't Stefan... I was supposed to see him that night, but I had forgotten. After you said what you said, I just needed to think, to let it sink in, to go over it in my own head. You said the sweetest things to me."

Stefan just looked at her.

"I went back to my room and Damon was there, waiting for me. I asked him what he was doing there, I had forgotten he said he would come by. I told him I was tired and that he should go. Then he'd asked me if your confession had overwhelmed me- and it just pissed me off to know that he'd been eavesdropping on us, and I told him he shouldn't have been listening. He could tell I was pissed and then he had asked me if his love hadn't been enough, and for a second I felt like absolute shit. I wasn't in love with him, but I cared about him a lot. I know that's not what I told him when I first came back here, but I really did care. He was special to me too, but it was never a romantic love. I didn't want to hurt him. He was my friend. But then I just brushed that moment of feeling bad aside because you were stuck in my head. I kept replaying your words in my head over and over. I didn't know what to do with myself. I just knew that I didn't want him there. I just wanted to remember your face and your words. I repeated that I was tired. I compelled him. I told him that I wanted to be alone and for him to leave, and so he did... Stefan, I didn't sleep at all that night. I just kept going over what you said. It was like I needed to keep going over it, to make sure you had _actually_ said that to me. I'd heard the words 'I love you' before, but when you said it, it shook me right down to the core of my being."

Damon wasn't sure what he was feeling at the moment.

"Why were you so surprised? You had to have known that I loved you before I said that," Stefan said.

"I _didn't_ know that. I thought you were a sweet guy with a big crush- but to love me- you actually loving me- I hadn't expected it. I kept replaying the scene in my head and I believed you. I believed that you loved me, and it was then that I could finally put my finger on all of my crazy feelings and things. I had felt the same thing. I loved you too... I still do," Katherine said quietly. "It's only ever been you for me. I've never been in love with anyone else, Stefan. Never."

Stefan remained silent, letting her words sink in. There it was. The truth.

"We were so stupid- me and Damon. We _knew _ it. We knew you were doing the both of us and yet we still put you on a pedestal. We still loved you. How messed up is that? And how did you do it? You loved me, yet you were still screwing around with the both of us. How did that work in your head?"

"I was still selfish, Stefan," Katherine said, sighing. "I told you, I liked having two good guys wanting me. I would know which of you I loved, but why not still have fun with the other? It's not like I felt nothing for Damon. I liked being around him. I cared about him, too. I didn't want to hurt him and just cast him aside. Even though you're the one I loved, even though I didn't want him the way he wanted me, I didn't want _him _ to stop wanting me. That was vain and unbelievably selfish. My logic eventually became that as long as you two actually stuck around and didn't make me make a choice- I'd have you both, but I always favoured you. I always spent more time with you, and I started spending even less time with him than I already had been. I told you that you were my favourite, Stefan."

"We wanted you to make a choice! You think we really wanted share you?" Stefan asked, exasperated.

"Neither of you ever actually specifically said 'make a choice'," Katherine said, shrugging a bit.

"You would have made a choice?" Stefan questioned.

"If I had to make a choice, it would have been you, obviously. It's always been you. I'm sorry that I made you think otherwise. I can now see things how you must have seen them then, but back then, like I said, I was still messed up and selfish. That didn't change until pretty much at the end for us."

Stefan just sighed.

"I know that you love Elena, and this might not mean anything to you at this point, but it wouldn't _ever_ be like that again. I know that how I did things with you was wrong. Wanna know why I told Damon that I never loved him when I came back months ago? Because even though it wasn't the _only_ reason I came back here, I _did _come back here for _you_. I knew we couldn't do things back like in 1864 again, so I made it clear, to him and you that you were the one I wanted, that you were the one I loved... I came back here to keep Elena safe, and I came back here to kill Elijah and Klaus, but that day when you asked me why I came back, I wasn't lying when I told you that I came back for you," Katherine said, trying to make him understand.

Stefan didn't know what to say so he just stayed quiet for a moment. When he spoke again, he brought the subject back to the past. "Why did you leave me? If you loved me so much why didn't you take me with you when you faked your death? Why didn't you bring us with you, or even just Damon- you say you cared about him, wouldn't you have wanted some sort of company?"

"Wow," Katherine said, chuckling a bit.

"What?"

"Elena asked me pretty much the exact same thing," Katherine said. "I didn't take you with me because I wanted to keep you safe. I left you because I couldn't stand the thought of anything happening to you. I wanted to keep Damon safe, too. I didn't want Klaus or Elijah ever having the chance of getting near you. You might be angry about me leaving you, but _that _was the first selfless thing I ever did and followed through on. I tried to be selfless with you before, but in the end I always caved into what I wanted, but not with that... I wanted forever with you, Stefan. I wanted you with me forever. Do you really think I didn't _want _ you with me? I wanted you with me so badly. It didn't matter what I wanted, though. I would never take you with me knowing that Klaus and Elijah were hunting for me again, no matter how much I wanted you. I would never risk your life. If they were gonna catch up with me and kill me, at least they'd be nowhere near you- at least I would know that you were okay. And then I'd tell myself that with me gone, you and Damon could get back to normal- fix what I messed up between you two."

"That situation didn't play out like exactly like you planned," Stefan said with a sad laugh.

"I know," Katherine sighed. "But you guys are better now, at least. You and him would die for each other. You guys don't really show it, but I know you two love each other."

Stefan laughed. "It is better than before, yeah, but there's still a girl between me and him. He wants Elena, and I want her _back. _He wants the girl I'm in love with yet again and I can't deal with that. It's driving me crazy."

Elena turned and looked at Damon, seemingly trying to ask him if what Stefan was saying was true. He purposely looked anywhere but at her. This isn't how he wanted her to find out that he was still in love with her, this wasn't how he wanted it to happen at all.


	56. Chapter 56

**o-0-o-0-o Chapter 56 is here : ) Sorry for the wait, but school has been kind of crazy.**** Thanks so much to Stelena lover, Marie, David Fishwick, Anna-Lisa, celia, MusicFlowsWithin, Raya and laugh4life for commenting/leaving reviews. Also, thanks to the people who have favourited the story... Anyone else shed some tears watching the season premiere? Anyway, I hope you'll enjoy this chapter. Please take a little bit of time to leave me a review and let me know what you think o-0-o-0-o**

Elena's eyes continued to question Damon, he knew, but he still refused to look at her right now. He didn't know what to do, and if he could actually speak without letting Stefan and Katherine know that he and Elena were listening in, he still wouldn't know exactly what to say.

He was supposed to tell Elena that he loved her in his own way and when he was ready. He was not ready at all right now.

o-o-o-o-o-o

Bonnie felt strong, but pretty nervous too. She was worried that somehow she was going to mess everything up.

Luka had just called her, telling her that Elijah just left town and that he'd be gone for a few days. He also told her that Elijah had said that he probably wouldn't be leaving very often again after he returned from this little trip.

She kept repeating it in her head that Elijah probably wouldn't be leaving again and she decided that she would need to get Katherine out of the tomb tonight, or would it be Katherine and Anton? Bonnie didn't like the guy but she knew that he would help to keep Elena safe, so Bonnie decided that as long as it wouldn't cause Katherine to take back her offer to help that she would be letting Anton get out of the tomb, too.

Bonnie was confident that she could bring down the seal on the tomb long enough to get them out, but she was wondering if she'd have enough energy to do the illusions necessary to conceal Katherine and Anton from anyone's view also. There was no way Bonnie was going to be seen walking around with Katherine and Anton. She wasn't going to take any kind of chances. She would also have to do an illusion on herself before going to the tomb.

Bonnie knew that asking Luka to help with getting Katherine and Anton out of the tomb was probably the smartest thing she could do, but she was stuck on him not finding anything out until the others knew too. He would learn everything later tonight when they would all get together.

Bonnie was stubbornly going to stick to that, but what she was going to do was ask Luka to do the illusion on her. She would ask him to do the spell that would conceal her from view, and that wouldn't require her to tell him that she was getting two vampires released from the tomb. She could at least save herself a little bit of energy this way.

Bonnie tried to relax, but that wasn't really possible. She couldn't get the funeral out of her head, and when she finally managed that for a second she would go back to worrying.

She wasn't going to call Luka right away, but she did need to call Stefan and tell him what was going on.

o-o-o-o-o-o-o

Caroline was sitting on her bed, thoughts rotating between a few different things. There was Matt, which still brought tears to her eyes. There was Tyler, which she would immediately try to push out of her head. There was Stefan and Elena. And then there was her wondering about what the hell Bonnie and Stefan had to say that everyone needed to get together to talk about.

She had a feeling that it probably wasn't going to be anything that would cause happiness.

o-o-o-o-o-o

Tyler had never been to the Salvatore home before. He also had hardly ever spoken to either Salvatore brother. Stefan was the more familiar to him of the two, but he and Tyler were not exactly on what Tyler would call the friendliest of terms.

Tyler was a little surprised when Stefan had approached him with Bonnie, asking him to meet up with them at the Salvatore mansion. He had looked to Bonnie as if to clear some things up. Bonnie had just nodded at him and told him that there was a lot of things going on and that she thought he could help them with some things if he was willing.

Bonnie had promised some explanations later in the evening. Tyler was beyond curious, he was even kind of excited to find out what was going on. Also, Caroline was going to be there, which meant she'd probably finally have to at least look at him, if not also talk to him.

She hadn't looked at him or spoken to him in a week and Tyler hated it. To be honest, even if he wasn't interested in helping Bonnie out or curious as hell about what was going on, he would have gone to Stefan and Damon's house tonight anyway, just so he could see Caroline.

o-o-o-o-o-o

"I get why it's driving you nuts. She was yours first. You're always going to see her as yours. You love her so much that you honestly cannot picture the world without her. You'd hate anyone else who came along and got with her, but it's not just anybody who came along, this person is your blood. You want to rip this person apart, but you'd also never let anyone hurt them. You'd kill someone for them. You want to wish them misery, but you can't because you don't _actually _want to. Blood is blood, Stefan. Everything is extra fucked up when family is involved. And you and Damon aren't just connected by someone who existed centuries earlier. You come from the same place. You come from the same people. You're brothers. This stuff is big. Of course it's gonna make you crazy," Katherine said, looking at Stefan.

"So that's you and Elena, huh, minus that last little part?" Stefan said, asking but not actually asking. It was a statement. Stefan knew that Katherine wasn't only talking about him and his brother.

"That's you and Damon," Katherine said, wanting to just stop there, but Elijah's compulsion made her actually answer. "And, yeah, I guess that's me and Elena too."

They both were silent for a moment after that. Anton sat at the back of the tomb taking everything in, completely forgotten about by Katherine and Stefan.

"I think I'd known Damon for only two days at the time, but we had quite the conversation one day. We talked about you, and your mother and your father. Your father was on his case about something that day in the morning, I don't remember what exactly it was, but I remember that you defended Damon to your dad. I was curious as to why there was such tension between them and I thought it was nice that you defended him. I asked him why he wasn't close with your dad and I'd commented that it seemed that you and him were close, though.

"He didn't get into whatever was wrong with him and your father, but he did start talking about you. I had said that you and him seemed close and he said that you were. He said it probably started a few days after you were born," Katherine said, closing her eyes for a minute.

Damon listened in, surprised that Katherine remembered that, and feeling pretty uncomfortable that she was going to talk to Stefan about it. Elena was listening to Katherine speaking, but Damon could still seeing Elena eyeing him out of the corner of her eye. Damon's feelings of awkwardness just kept growing.

"He told me that in those first few days after you were born he was pretty upset and jealous because your parent's attention wasn't solely on him anymore. With you around, he saw even less of your father, but he said that your mother was always good at spending time with the both of you, but he hated even the smallest amount of lost time with her even if it was only when she was feeding you."

"Damon had a lot more time with her than I did. He got to build something with her that I never had the chance to do quite the same way. I loved her, I adored her. I would have followed her into a fire. I saw this light surrounding her when I looked at her. Damon had all those feelings too, but he also had 4 extra years, 4 years of maturity on me, 4 years in which she wasn't only his mother but she also probably became his best friend. I get why he would have been jealous in the beginning. My mom was the type of person you just wanted to spend as much time with as possible," Stefan said quietly, emotion rising at the thought of his mother.

Katherine smiled a bit and continued speaking. "He told me that one day in the beginning he just had to talk to your mom and tell her that he wasn't crazy about having a baby brother. He told her and then she asked him why he didn't like having a little brother. He told her that he didn't like that you got so much attention. He told her that he was scared that she and your dad wouldn't have any time for him anymore, that one day they wouldn't love him anymore."

"What did my mother say?" Stefan asked.

"He told me that she picked him up and sat him in her lap and she told him that they'd always have time for him and she told him that she'd never stop loving him. She told him not to be angry with you because it wasn't your fault that you needed to spend so much time with them. She said that all kids need their parents, but babies need them even more because they couldn't do anything for themselves yet. She told him that you really had to take care of a baby. She told him that she would probably need his help. He liked the idea of helping her so he told her that he thought that would be fine. She told him that he should love you and be good to you because you'd look up to him when you got older. He asked her how she could know that.

"She told Damon that you and her had being a younger sibling in common. She told him about her older sister, your aunt. She told Damon that she loved her and admired her so much. She talked about how she had defended her from the other girls. She said that her sister was her hero. Then she asked Damon to promise her that he'd always look out for you. He told me that he had loved the idea of being a hero," Katherine said, laughing a bit.

"When we were kids, he _was_ my hero. I wanted to be wherever he was," Stefan said, sighing.

"He said that after he talked to your mom that day he started to like you a lot better. He said he started to spend a lot of time with you and eventually you two got really close and became great friends. He got quiet for a second after that and then he finally got into explaining what was wrong between him and your father."

Stefan took a deep breath, he was pretty sure he knew what Katherine was going to say.

"He told me that your father blamed him for your mother's death."

Elena's expression softened as she still watched Damon intently.

"He said that it _was_ his fault, but that it was also your father's fault," Katherine said.

"He's got that only half-right," Stefan said. "Whatever shit has gone down with me and my brother, I will _never _ say and, _have_ never said, or let _anyone_ else say in front of me, including my father that our mother's death was Damon's fault. My father was an asshole for putting that on Damon. It _wasn't_ Damon's fault. It's _my _fault that I went out on the ice, and it was also my father's fault," Stefan said, looking down at his hands.

Damon just shook his head. _ Why the hell do you always do that? Why do you think that everything is your fault? Why the hell do you still defend me? Of course it's my fault. I'm the one who told you to come on the stupid ice. I'm the reason you fell in the freezing water. I'm the reason she came running out of the house to jump in after you._

Stefan blamed himself, but Elena could see that Damon did not agree with that. Damon still placed the blame on himself.

"That wasn't your fault, Stefan," Katherine told him.

"You weren't there, you don't know that," Stefan answered.

"No, I wasn't there, but Damon told me all about it. You were _four _years old Stefan, of course you followed Damon onto the ice when he told you to."

"I didn't have to, though. I could have listened to our parents. If I didn't go on the ice, I never would have fallen in. Damon would never have run to get my mother because he couldn't see my father. My mother never would have had to jump into a freezing lake to get me out. She never would have died. It's not Damon's fault," Stefan said seriously.

_Yeah, it is Little Brother._

"It's your father's fault, Stefan. Not yours, and not Damon's. Your father was supposed to be watching you two, but instead he went off with the neighbour. If your father was where your mother asked him to be- watching you and Damon, you two never would have been able to get on that ice and you never would have fallen in. There are reasons that you and Damon could blame each other for your mother's death, you'd both be wrong of course because it's all on your dad, but you both _could_ have your reasons for blaming each other. You could blame Damon for telling you to go out on that ice when he knew that you'd do anything he wanted when you were a kid. Damon could blame you for going on the ice because it's not like he technically _forced _you to go. You both could say those things, but you don't. You don't blame each other. Each of you blames himself instead."

"What's your point, Katherine?" Stefan asked, not liking to think about these things.

"My point is that you protect each other. You still do. That comes from love. You still love your brother. Your brother still loves you."

Damon rubbed his temples. His head was starting to pound.

"Why are you pushing this so hard, Katherine?" Stefan asked.

"Because I want to fix things. You two made all of your own choices. I didn't force you both to fall for me, but I did take advantage of it. I know that a lot of what's wrong between you two is because of me," Katherine said, looking at the ground. "I regret my part in your problems with him. I know that now it's Elena that's between you guys, but the problems started with me. There's always a girl between you, but I don't want you two to fight. I don't want you to hate each other. I want you to remember that you guys love each other. I don't like seeing you hurt, Stefan."

"You _do _regret it?" he asked her.

"Yeah," she said, nodding.

"It's not all your fault. You're right, you didn't force us to fall in love with you. Me and Damon ruined ourselves for the most part. Sure, you were the reason for a lot of it, but we let it happen. And _me, _I think I'm responsible for a lot of the bad stuff that lingers between us. I practically forced him into turning... I lose everything. I ruin, lose, or kill directly or indirectly everything and everyone I've ever loved. My mother's death is my fault. I literally killed my father. I thought you died, but you just left, I'm pretty much responsible for Damon being a vampire. After he turned, he promised me an eternity of misery. I ruined Damon and then I lost him when he became disgusted with me. Lexi's dead because she was an awesome friend. She's dead because she came to town to see me on my damn birthday, and she got staked by my brother. Lexi is the reason that I'm not a monster. She saved me. She made me better. She was my best friend, and what did that get her? What the hell did I give back to her that could ever compare to what she gave me? And whatever I did, I somehow fucked everything up with Elena. I love her. I love her so much, but she left me and it's killing me. It hurts so bad. Damon loves her. Damon wants her. I'm scared that he's gonna get her. I think she has feelings for him... She makes everything good. When everything's gone to hell, she can just smile and you'll feel that things can't be that bad after all, not when she's smiling like that. I don't know what to do without her. She made me better than I was, and she did the same for Damon. In the end, I hurt her, and that's something I _never _wanted to do. I just wanted to make her happy... There's something very wrong with me, I think."

"There's nothing wrong with you, Stefan. You did make her happy. And Damon can love her all he wants, that doesn't mean that Elena's going to love him back."

Damon needed to leave. He couldn't stay here anymore. This was way too much damn emotion for him to deal with. He moved soundlessly passed Elena and he left. He needed to get his mind off of things. He was heading home to get drunk, very, very drunk.

A part of her wanted to just leave the tomb now. Elena could tell that this was all taking its toll on Damon, but she couldn't leave yet. Not when there was so much pain in Stefan's voice, not when there were still things to hear.

"What's your biggest regret from 1864?" Stefan asked, needing to change the topic a bit.

"My biggest regret is that you've spent close to 150 years believing that I never loved you," Katherine said quietly.

Stefan just nodded.

"Do think that Elena's right?" Katherine asked.

"About?"

"Do you think you might still love me?" Katherine asked.

"I think Elena was right about certain things. I think I did make myself hate you, or I tried to... The only thing I know for sure is that I love Elena, and that that has never been about you. Me loving her has never had a thing to do with you. That's what I know, that and that I _don't_ hate you," he said, looking at Katherine.

Elena smiled to herself sadly. _I know you love me, but I know you love her too. You just still can't say it. _

"I can't tell you that I love you because I don't know if I do. I _can_ tell you that I care about you and that I don't want _anything _to happen to you. I know that I loved you in the past. I won't deny that anymore. I know that I loved you so much it hurt. I loved you so much that I went on a killing spree in this town after I turned because I wanted to murder everyone who had anything to do with you dying. I wanted to make them pay for taking you away," Stefan said to Katherine.

_He still won't say that he loves her. He's not going to. I need to go before I start thinking that I made a mistake in breaking up with him. He loves her, he just can't admit it, and I can't be with him while he still loves her too, no matter how much I miss him and love him. I can't share him with her. _

"I loved you so much that I gave you my mother's ring," Stefan said, getting quiet.

_I need to get out of here now. I don't want to listen to this anymore. He loves her, he's just not saying it. I need to try to get Stefan out of my head because this is making me crazy. I can't share him with her, so I can't be with him right now. I need to stick to my decision. I ended things. Me and him are over. I need to try to get over him even though that's not ever gonna be possible. _

Elena moved as quietly as she could and made her exit, taking a deep breath when she got out into the open air.

"What happened to that ring?" Stefan asked.

"You sound pretty sure that I don't have it or know where it is," Katherine said.

"_Do _you know where it is?" he asked her.

"I know exactly where it is, Stefan. It's safe. It's not lost."

"Where is it, Katherine?"

"I told you that it's safe."

"Where is it?" he asked again.

Katherine sighed before speaking again. "After I left Mystic Falls I used to wear it on the necklace you gave it to me with, but one day I got way too drunk and some guy actually pulled the chain with the ring on it from my neck. Obviously I got it back from him, but the necklace was broken. I took the ring and what was left of the necklace back, I killed the guy, got my act together, and found someone who knew about jewellery. I got her to make me a new clasp. There wasn't enough left of the necklace to even make a bracelet but I got her to fix it so that even though I couldn't wear it, I could still hang something on it."

Katherine moved her hair off of her shoulders and unzipped the front of the shirt she was wearing.

"It's right here, Stefan," she said.

The ring hung on a tiny bit of the necklace that he had given her, and that hung on the front of the strap of her bra. She still had it.

"It's safer here," she said, zipping her shirt back up. "No one can really see it and try to take it from me again this way."

"You took care of it," he said, surprised that she still had it.

"Your mother gave this to you and told you to give it to the person you were going to love forever- of course I took care of it. I promised you I would. You really think I'd let someone take that away from me. You think I'd let anything happen to something that was proof of the love you had for me? Come on Stefan, give me more credit than that."

Stefan started to speak, but Katherine cut him off.

"Don't ask me for it back. I won't give it to you. You might love Elena now, but you loved me first. You were _mine _first. This confirms that," Katherine said, looking Stefan straight in the eye.

"I wasn't going to ask for it back. I wouldn't do that. I'm not a complete douche-bag, Katherine."

"I didn't say you were."

Silence. It wasn't an uncomfortable silence, it was just one full of individual thoughts. Neither of the two was sure quite how long it lasted. But according to the time on Anton's phone, it had been close to two hours

"You were asking about a picture or something earlier," Stefan finally said.

"Don't worry about it. I'm pretty sure you're not really in the mood to go ask Damon or Elena anything right now," Katherine said.

"What is it that you were looking for exactly? I might be able to find it. I could go look for it for you," Stefan offered.

"I don't even know if what I'm looking for actually exists, I'm just assuming it does, based on a request."

"So I'm looking for a picture of a baby or a young child, then," Stefan said.

"How do you know?" Katherine asked him.

"When you were talking before, you said that you asked your mother to get you a portrait of your daughter. I'm assuming that that's what you're looking for."

Katherine just nodded.

"I'll see if Alaric remembers seeing anything like that since he went with Damon and Elena when they got your family history book. Maybe it was in there, tucked in, and maybe it fell out. If he doesn't know anything, I'll start to look for it myself."

"Thank you," Katherine said.

"No problem," he answered. "I'll see you later."

"You'll come back?" she asked him.

"I'll come back," he answered, nodding.

"Even if you don't find anything?"

"Even if I don't find anything, Katherine."

"Okay, I'll see you later, then," she said, smiling as he left.

o-o-o-o-o-o

It had been close to two hours since Elena left the tomb, and a little bit more than that since Damon left it.

A lot of things could happen in two hours. You could start and finish a movie. You could take a nap. You could go shopping. You could take a walk.

You could also get extremely drunk and do things that you would regret for the rest of your life, things that would hurt someone so badly that you would later find yourself wondering if they would ever be able to forgive you or look at you without hurt and anger.

And that's what happened with Damon and Elena.


	57. Chapter 57

**o-0-o-0-o Thanks a bunch to celia, Stelena Lover, David Fishwick, laugh4life, Marie and Sasha R reviewing last chapter. Again, sorry that it took awhile to update but school is crazy. I'm hoping that the next update will be sooner. Here's the new chapter. Remember my motto- things can change and change again in this story. Hope you'll enjoy this chapter. Please take a tiny bit of time to leave me a review and let me know what you think****o-0-o-0-o**

Elena had left the tomb a few minutes earlier and she was walking back into town, repeatedly telling herself that in the long run things were going to work, that her decision to break up with Stefan would work out in the end.

Stefan would eventually come to terms with his feelings for Katherine and act on them. It would kill Elena to watch, but with a bit of time he'd realize for sure that Elena was the one for him. The uncertainty over his feelings for Katherine would be gone and then he and Elena could and _would_ get back together.

She kept telling herself this to keep from going crazy. She was dealing with a hell of a lot lately, and going a little bit crazy seemed like a very real possibility.

There was the breakup with Stefan, the realization that Elijah was not on her side, finding out that Damon was still in love with her, learning that Katherine didn't hate her and was actually trying to protect her, John's sickness, Isobel's appearance in her life, and the thing that she had been trying not to think about- the deaths, especially Jeremy's.

And there it was, there she went again. The tears poured from her eyes. Jeremy was gone. He was really gone, and she'd never get to see him again.

She continued walking even though she could hardly see a thing with her tears blurring her vision.

She just wanted to forget everything that was going on. Elena only stopped walking when she felt her phone vibrate. She pulled it out and wiped her eyes so that she could see who was calling.

She dropped her phone to the ground when she saw the name that was flashing on the screen.

It said 'Jeremy.'

What kind of sick joke was this?

Elena almost screamed, but she remembered that his phone must have been lost from that night he went to the concert because he didn't have his phone on him when they found his dead body, along with Matt and Bonnie's dad's.

Someone must have found his phone.

Elena took a deep breath and tried to sound calm. "Hello."

"Hi. I found this phone and I'm just trying to find out who it belongs to. I tried a few numbers, but you're the first to answer."

"You've got my brother's phone," Elena said weakly.

"Where are you? Maybe I could meet you or your brother somewhere to give you the phone. I lost mine recently and it sucked big time, so if I can help someone out and give them theirs back I'm all for it."

Elena told him that she lived in Mystic Falls. That wasn't close enough for the guy, but he took down the address and offered to send it over.

"Thanks," Elena said, squeezing her eyes shut, trying not to cry again. "If you write your address on the package, I'll send the money for the cost of shipping it here back to you."

"Don't worry about it, I'm just happy to help."

"Okay, well thanks again."

"No prob, I'll send it off tomorrow."

"Sounds good," Elena said, feeling her eyes getting wet again.

"Alright, bye then."

"Bye,' Elena said, hanging up quickly.

Tears were flowing yet again.

"I just need to clear my head. I just need a break. I want to forget for awhile. I just want to forget," Elena whispered.

Elena continued on her way home, this time running the rest of the way.

She knew there was alcohol in the house because both John and Jenna had been drinking a couple days ago.

She was going to be raiding that stash as soon as she walked into her house. She knew that it wasn't a good idea to drink away problems and sadness, but she just needed to escape for a bit.

When Elena got home she went straight for the cupboards. She was very disappointed to find that there was none of what she wanted.

"I need to forget, dammit!" she yelled angrily.

She knew she would not get served at any bars- everyone knew how old she was around here. That left one place, she was going to go get drunk on whatever the hell Stefan and Damon had at their house, or _hers_ now, technically.

o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o

"Keep them coming my friend. Keep them coming," Damon said, chugging down glass after glass.

"It's a little early to be drinking so much, don't you think, buddy?" the bartender said.

"Keep your mouth shut and keep the damn alcohol coming. You're making a bunch of money off of me so just shut the hell up," Damon snapped.

_I should call Judgey. Maybe she can help clear my damn mind. I think her frying my brains might actually be a damn good thing right now._

Damon let out a pathetic laugh. Bonnie had just sent him a text message.

It read: 'Don't forget we're all meeting later, so don't go running off anywhere.'

_Leave Judgey alone for now. Witchy's gonna have enough of a headache later I'm sure, don't bother her, not today, not after the funeral._

Damon downed another glass

o-o-o-o-o-o-o

"Owww, shit," Elena cursed, smacking her elbow into the wall. "I'm cold. Are you supposed to be cold when you're drunk?" she asked herself out loud. "I don't remember what this is like," Elena mumbled, nearly tripping over her own feet. "I'm gonna ask Bonnie and Caroline later if I usually get cold when I'm drunk," she said, laughing stupidly, as she walked up the stairs watching her feet so as to not stumble.

"Time to get warm. Time to go lie down. Time to find Stefan's bed- just for a little while. Nobody's here it's okay. I just need to be near him again even though I shouldn't... Only for a bit and then I'll get up and I'll do better at being broken up. It'll be better in a little while," Elena said, not taking her eyes off of the stairs she was climbing up.

o-o-o-o-o-o

Bonnie opened her door and hurried Luka inside.

"Hey," he said.

"Hi," she said, a little awkwardly.

"So what's up? I thought I wasn't going to be seeing you until later at the Salvatore place."

"I need you to help me with something," Bonnie said. "And remember, don't go to the Salvatore's until the specific time I told you. I need to be there before you show up."

"Don't worry. I'll show up when you want me to, not before. What do you need my help with?"

"I need you to do this for me and not ask me any questions about it. You'll know why I need this later on."

Luka sighed. "When are you going to fully trust me?"

"I _do _trust you, Luka," Bonnie said. "I just can't have you finding out anything before the others. It doesn't feel right to me. I can't tell you when my own best friends don't know what I'm doing. Will you help me or not?"

"Yeah, I'll help you Bonnie. If you haven't figured it out by now, I'd do just about anything for you."

There was an awkward silence for a moment.

"I need to be invisible for awhile. Can you do the illusion on me, please?" she asked, not looking directly at him.

"Okay," he told her. "Now?"

"Yeah, please."

"I know it's in really bad taste to ask you this right now, but I need to know-"

"Know what?" Bonnie asked him, having a feeling she wasn't going to be comfortable with the question.

"Not now obviously, but somewhere down the road- would I have a chance with you?"

"You're right, it was in really bad taste to ask me that," Bonnie told him. "It wasn't only my father and friend's funeral today- we buried my boyfriend too."

"Sorry," Luka said quietly.

"Can you just do the spell on me, please?"

"Yeah, of course. No problem," Luka said quickly.

o-o-o-o-o-o-o

Caroline was slightly nervous about this group meeting tonight. She just had a feeling like tonight was not going to be an ordinary night. When she was nervous, there were several different things she usually did- one of them was shop. Usually it wasn't shopping at the grocery store, but since there was going to be a group get together, getting food seemed to make sense.

"Damn"

"Sorry," Caroline said suddenly. She hadn't been paying attention and hit someone with the shopping cart.

"Trying to run me over, Care?" Tyler asked, flashing her a small smile.

"Tyler," Caroline said, shocked. "What are you doing here?"

Tyler shrugged. "I thought maybe I should get something and bring it over to Stefan and Damon's, but I have no clue what I'm supposed to get."

"I'm getting some stuff. Don't worry about bringing anything. You should go relax for a bit. We don't need go there for a little while still," she said awkwardly.

This was the first time she'd spoken to him in a week. And it felt too soon for her.

"Can you please stop trying to avoid me? I hate this. I hate that everything is all weird and awkward."

"Me too," she said, sighing. "I know that I'm the one making things awkward, but-"

"I hate being in this town with you and not talking to you. I don't want you to avoid me. Nothing needs to be weird, okay? We're friends. Let's _be _that, Care." _Even though I want to be more than your friend. _"Whatever else there is, we can deal with that later."

Caroline didn't mean to say it, but she let it slip. "Ty, everything's complicated. It's not your fault, but it's complicated. I screwed up-"

"It's not complicated, Care. You didn't screw anything up," he said, quietly, pulling her into a corner that no one was shopping in. "You didn't do anything wrong, do you understand me? I know that you're feeling like Matt dying was your fault and I know that it's killing you that you were with me while he got killed, but you didn't do anything wrong. You didn't betray him. Whatever there is here, between you and me, you didn't betray him for this- you didn't," Tyler said, voicing what he knew she must have been feeling.

"Yeah, I did," she said, barely whispering.

"No you didn't. I told you I fell for you and you told me to basically shut the hell up about it. You repeatedly told me you loved Matt and that you were with him and only him. You made it clear that all we could be was friends- you don't need to feel guilty about anything."

"Just because I said certain things or acted in a certain way doesn't mean anything. I could say one thing and feel something else, Tyler," Caroline said, rubbing her temples.

"So what, maybe you felt for me more than you admitted- but you loved him Caroline. Whatever else there was, you loved him," Tyler told her, feeling a little bit desperate to try to make her feel better, and maybe himself too, because he was still feeling guilty as hell for wanting to take her away from Matt.

"I think I have everything I wanted to get," Caroline said. "Umm, here," she said, handing him some money. "Can you go to the cash for me? I need to get some air," she said, walking away quickly.

"That went wonderfully," Tyler mumbled sarcastically, heading for the cash.

Caroline paced back and forth outside, trying to calm herself down.

_He's right though, whatever else there was I _did _love Matt, and he knew that I loved him... I can't help my feelings, but I never did betray Matt. I never _technically _chose to pick Tyler over him... Maybe my feelings for Tyler were really strong, but I told him we could only be friends. Maybe I had feelings for both of them, but I never acted on both sets. I didn't kiss Tyler. I didn't tell him that he crept his way into my heart again. I never did that... But I was too invested in figuring out what was going on with him, I followed him and I didn't go with Matt and he died that same night... How do I deal with that? How is there any way to feel anything other than guilty and confused? I miss Matt so much... I can't keep doing this, though. I can't keep avoiding Tyler. This town is so small and he didn't do anything wrong- and I miss him. I don't like not being around him- even when I'm _trying _not to be around him... We can be friends, right? That's all we ever really were anyway, even if there were other feelings there... Stop acting like an idiot and just be Tyler's friend. Love Matt, remember Matt, never forget Matt. I can do that and be Tyler's friend._

"Did you bring your car?"

Caroline jumped a little bit. "What?" she asked, coming out of her thoughts.

"Did you come here with your car?" Tyler asked, holding up the shopping bags.

"No," she said, shaking her head. "I was just gonna walk over with the stuff."

"I'll walk with you then."

"Okay," Caroline said, taking a deep breath.

o-o-o-o-o-o-o

"Stefan, I'm in love with your girl. Your ex-girl. I love her. I want her. I need her. And I'm sorry, but my feelings aren't gonna change. I know it's gonna hurt you and I know you're gonna hate me, but I _am _sorry. I'm not gonna give up my chance with her for you, I can't. Don't hate me for this, okay?" Damon said drunkenly, walking into Stefan's room.

He didn't find Stefan though. Instead he found Elena lying in Stefan's bed.

"Stefan's not here," Elena said quietly.

"Oh shit," Damon cursed. "No. No, no, no. It's not supposed to happen like this."

"You still love me, huh?" she asked weakly. "I thought you just thought of me as a friend again."

Damon began moving back to the door.

"Don't go. Talk to me," Elena sighed.

"Obviously I lied," Damon said, meaning to walk out of the room, but instead he walked clumsily closer to Elena in the bed.

"Come sit with me," Elena said, sitting up and patting the bed.

"Are you drunk right now?" Damon asked with a raised eyebrow, plopping down on the bed.

"Yeah, that was the goal," Elena said, rubbing her eyes. "You?"

"I would say yes- I am. That was my goal too."

"You actually really love Stefan, don't you?" Elena asked, lying back down.

Damon shrugged and only said "he's my brother."

"I love him too. I love him _so _much. But I can't be with him right now Damon, I can't."

"Why don't you love me Elena? Why can't you love me? I'd be really good to you. And I try to be good for you, you know?" Damon asked, just letting his thoughts slip out. He wasn't supposed to be acting so dumb.

"It's not that I don't love you, Damon. I do love you, but I'm _in_ love with Stefan," Elena told him.

"Is that the only reason you can't love me the same way I love you- because you're still in love with Stefan?"

"Didn't I already tell you that there's nothing wrong with you? There's no reason why I couldn't love you except for my feelings for Stefan."

"Maybe you'll stop loving him and then I can have my shot," Damon said, looking down at her. Somewhere in the back of his mind he knew he should shut up, but he couldn't help anything he was saying.

"I don't think I'm ever going to stop loving him, Damon. I think he's in permanent possession of my heart."

"Do you think that maybe you wouldn't be so sad about not being with him anymore if we got you to stop loving him? Do you think we could try to make you stop loving him?" Damon asked pathetically, feeling desperate to have this girl's love.

Elena laughed sadly. "We could try, but it won't work."

"You don't know that for sure, right? We can't know anything for certain," Damon said.

"How would I go about trying to make myself stop loving him?" Elena asked sarcastically but curiously. .

"Let me kiss you. Kiss me back," Damon said, staring at her lips. "See what happens."

If they were sober, none of this would be happening. But they weren't sober, and they were both hurting. Drunkenness and pain were not a good combination. People did stupid things when they didn't have clear heads. People hurt others when their minds were messed up. People did things they'd never be able to take back.

Silence.

"Okay," Elena said softly after a moment, sitting up again.

_I'm allowed to kiss her now. Finally I'm allowed to kiss her._

Damon moved forward and Elena felt his lips against hers. She waited for some special feeling to wash over her, but it didn't come. It was awkward, but it was nice. It just did absolutely nothing to take her mind off of Stefan, though. Her love for him wasn't lessening at all. Her ache for him wasn't going away.

She wanted to scream out in frustration, but she realized that Damon was waiting for her to kiss him back.

_Maybe I'll feel something for him if I kiss him instead. Maybe I'll miss Stefan less if I kiss Damon._

Elena kissed him back.

Damon felt like he was flying. He felt a rush. He felt great.

Elena wanted to cry. This wasn't working.

She felt Damon's hand on the bare skin of her neck. His hand moved to her shoulder and his fingers played with the thin strap of her bra under her tank top. She realized what he was asking her. Was this going to go any further?

_I love Stefan. I miss Stefan. I want Stefan. I need Stefan. But I can't have him now. I need to make this stop hurting. I need to forget for a little while._

"Please make me forget loving him so much," Elena choked out..

o-o-o-o-o-o-o

"Katherine," Bonnie called out, entering the tomb.

"I hear you Bennett, but where the hell are you?" Katherine asked, getting up and looking around.

"You can't see me. That's intentional. Answer a question for me. I may just happen to be here right now to get you out of this place. If I let your roommate out, is that gonna make you go back on your word to help keep Elena safe?"

Katherine sighed. She'd be happiest if she didn't have to see Anton anymore, but she couldn't deny that he would be an asset for them against Elijah and Klaus and whoever they decided to bring along. She had no intention of letting Elijah or Klaus accomplish their goal with Elena. She wasn't going to let anything happen to Elena, and Anton, being as old as she was would be helpful for that.

Katherine turned to Anton. "Don't bug me. Don't crowd me. Don't talk to me unless it's important. You'll be there to help keep Elena safe, not me. Got it?"

_I'll keep you both safe. I'm not letting anything happen to you. But I'll say what you want me to say for now._

"Yeah, I got it," Anton said.

"I'm not going back on my word, get us out of here, Bennett."

Bonnie gave Katherine a look.

"Please," Katherine added, smirking.

Bonnie rolled her eyes. "I'm going to have to do an illusion on the both of you. We're not taking any chances of being seen by anyone. We're going to Stefan and Damon's- well actually it's Elena's house now, but anyway, the point is that that's where we're going. So if I happen to maybe pass out or something after I finish with bringing down the seal on this place and putting the illusions on you, which I don't think will happen, but if it does, bring me there," Bonnie said, a little bit awkwardly.

"Okay,' Katherine said. "Let's get this show on the road."

"Be nice to everyone, do you understand me? Don't you dare be a bitch to Caroline. And no attacking people to drink and drain dry on our way to where we're going. Got it?" Bonnie said, running her hand through her hair.

Katherine rolled her eyes at the witch this time. "Yeah, yeah. Got it girlie. Now kindly get me the hell out of here."

Bonnie closed her eyes and took a deep breath. "Okay. Here we go."

o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o

Stefan went to see Alaric to find out if he remembered seeing any kind of portrait when he went with Damon and Elena on their little trip to see Isobel's student. He hadn't seen anything, so Stefan headed back home.

He wasn't looking forward to speaking to Damon, but he wanted to know if he's seen a loose portrait in the Petrova family history that may have fallen out.

Stefan walked into what was now Elena's house and made his way up the stairs.

He heard noise coming from his room so he headed there instead of Damon's room.

Stefan walked into his room and his world immediately came crashing down.

Elena and Damon were in Stefan's bed having sex.

He was dying, that's what it felt like. He felt like he was on fire. He felt like he would burn to ashes or melt into nothingness. He felt betrayal and absolute heartbreak- and he felt rage.

"What the fuck!" he yelled.

"Oh my God," Elena choked out, immediately disentangling herself from Damon. "No, no, no. This isn't happening." _This cannot be happening. This was not supposed to happen. I wasn't supposed to hurt Stefan. He should never have seen this. No, no, no. This isn't real._

Damon started to get up and tried to say something, or maybe he did actually say something, either way, Stefan heard nothing.

Damon took a step towards his brother and Stefan flipped out on him. Stefan grabbed him and pulled him out of the room and tossed him down the stairs.

Caroline and Tyler walked through the door as Damon hit the ground.

"What the hell, Damon?" Caroline asked, running over to him. "Where the hell are your clothes?"

Stefan walked back into his room.

Tears were streaming down Elena's face. "Stefan- Stefan, I'm so sorry. I'm _so _ sorry," she said, reaching out to him.

Her heart was beating a million times a minute.

Stefan closed his eyes and took a deep breath. "Please get out of here," he said, trying not to yell at her.

He couldn't look at her right now, but he couldn't bring himself to yell at her, not today. He couldn't look at her, but he wasn't going to yell at her and increase her tears on the day she buried her brother.

She just killed him. She and his brother had just ripped out his heart and stomped on it.

"Stefan please- I'm sorry. I'm so sorry. I don't love him. I don't. I don't. I don't. I'm sorry," Elena sobbed.

"Elena, please get out of this room," he said, his eyes still closed. _ She left me for him. She lied to me. She said she wasn't going to just hop to Damon, but she did exactly that. She said she didn't love him, but that's bullshit. She left me for him. That's what she really wants, she just didn't want me to find out. She doesn't want me to hate her. She loves my brother._

"No, no. Please Stefan. Please forgive me. I didn't mean for this to happen," Elena said, beginning to hyperventilate and starting to feel like she was going to collapse to the floor.

"Elena, you need to calm down. You're gonna give yourself a heart attack. Breathe normally," Stefan said, gripping her shoulders, making sure she didn't collapse.

_Okay, now just don't let me go, Stefan. Don't let me go and I can make things better._

Caroline raced up the stairs when she heard Elena's sobs.

"Caroline, take her out of here, please. Get her some water. Keep her calm," Stefan said, hearing Caroline approaching. "Get her something to wear. There's still some of her stuff in the drawer over there."

_Oh shit! Shit, shit shit! Elena slept with Damon and Stefan walked in on them, that's got to be it, right? He's the only one with clothes on... What the hell. This is insane. Oh my- were they in Stefan's bed? They must have been in his bed. Wow. What the freakin' hell?_

Caroline grabbed something for Elena to put on and went over to Elena, practically having to dress her friend "Elena's let's go now," Caroline said, taking her by the arm.

"No," Elena whispered.

"Yes," Caroline told her. "You need to give him space right now, babe."

"I'm sorry, Stefan. Please don't hate me. Oh God, please don't hate me. I can't lose you. No. No, no! I can't lose you. I cannot lose you too. I _can't."_

Stefan tried to keep his cool. He wanted to tell her she was being unbelievably selfish. He wanted to tell her he never wanted to see her again, he wanted to tell her that she did lose him because _he _ had clearly just lost _her_, but he couldn't. He couldn't do that to her.

This girl was going to be the end of him. She ruined things. She just massacred his heart. It was now really over between them, but here he was trying to make sure she was okay, trying to make her stop crying. He was hurting so badly right now, but he didn't want that for her too. He was furious, and angry, and still so in love with her.

"You're not gonna lose me. I'm still here. I'm not leaving, but I need you to go now. You can't be here right now. I will be there for you. I will be your friend and I will protect you until the end, but you need to get out of this room, please," Stefan said, trying to sound calm.

Elena started to speak, but Stefan cut her off. He was trying to be calm, but he couldn't hold his tongue.

"Elena, you just had sex with my brother in _my _bed. I'm trying _really_ hard not to completely freak out. The least you can do for me right now is give me a few minutes to myself," Stefan said, his hands clenched into fists.

"Okay," Elena said weakly, allowing Caroline to lead her out of the room. "But tell me one thing- do you hate me now?"

"I don't know how to do that, Elena. I don't know how to hate you. I _can't _hate you. I'm never gonna be able to hate you," Stefan said as he shut his door.

Caroline wrapped her arms around Elena as her friend cried on her shoulder. "He might not hate me, but I don't think he's ever gonna love me again," Elena whispered. "I just ruined everything, Caroline. I'm so stupid."

"Shhhh," Caroline said, rubbing Elena's back. "Come downstairs. We'll get you some water. And then you can tell me what happened here."

As Caroline and Elena walked down the stairs Stefan began smashing and destroying just about anything in his line of vision in his room.

Everyone in the house heard the glass shatter when Stefan smashed his fist through the mirror, and then when he broke his huge window, literally throwing his bed out of it.


	58. Chapter 58

**o-0-o-0-o Thanks to David Fishwick, Stelena lover, laugh4life, Anna-Lisa, Marie, Hooked-On-TVD, celia, Angell4NEPatriots and .REED, for reviewing the last chapter. Here's the new one, updated earlier than the last. Hope you'll enjoy it. Please take a moment to leave me a review and let me know what you think o-0-o-0-o**

"What the hell!" Alaric yelled as he saw a bed come flying out of the window from one of the rooms in the Salvatore house.

He hurried inside to see what was going on.

He walked in to find Tyler looking completely out of his comfort zone, and Caroline trying to comfort a distraught Elena while throwing clothes at Damon.

"Put some damn pants on, psycho," Caroline said angrily.

Caroline was pissed off at both her best friend and Damon, but she only had the desire to smash one of their heads into the wall- and that was Damon.

She knew that Elena was all messed up about breaking up with Stefan, and they just had the funeral today, too. Elena's head was probably pounding away and she went and got drunk.

It was obvious to Caroline that Elena had had a lot to drink. She could just picture Elena's messed up thought process that led to all of this absolute craziness.

Caroline was upset with Elena for hurting Stefan the way she just did, but the girl was her best friend and she was also hurting too, so she would be her shoulder to cry on right now.

She had no sympathy for Damon right now, though.

"Someone want to tell me what's going on here?" Alaric asked, making his presence known.

No one answered him. There was more noise upstairs, Stefan was destroying something else.

Damon got up, grunted, and started to head back up the stairs.

"Damon, get back here right now!" Caroline yelled.

He didn't listen.

Caroline pulled out her phone immediately and dialled Bonnie as quickly as she could.

"Bonnie, you need to get here right now. I think Stefan and Damon are about to tear each other apart. Your aneurism thingy would probably come in really handy right now since I don't think I'm gonna have too much luck trying to break them up myself. Hurry up and get here, please" she said, hanging up the phone, and running up the stairs following Damon.

Tyler finally came back to his senses and ran up the stairs after Caroline to try to help her.

Elena made a dash for the stairs too. She could not let Stefan and Damon fight. This was not supposed to be happening.

Alaric caught Elena by the back of her shirt. "Stay here. You're not going anywhere near a fight between those two."

"I have to make it better, Ric. I screwed up so bad- so, _so_ bad," Elena said, trying to get out of his grasp.

From Elena's words, Damon's nakedness, and a bed flying out the window, Alaric pieced everything together and just sighed. Damon and Elena slept together and Stefan must have seen them.

"Let me go, Ric," Elena said.

"Do you really wanna get involved in a fight between two vampires? Do you actually think there's anything you could do to separate them when they start fighting? Just stay put. Maybe Caroline and Tyler can manage to pull them apart."

Bonnie came rushing into the house, and headed straight up the stairs. She knew that's where the problem must be because she just saw something flying out the window from upstairs.

"Elena, there's two guests at the door. I need you to just say that they can come in, okay? Hurry up and invite them in."

Elena looked to Alaric. "I'm not crazy, right? You just heard Bonnie too, didn't you? But where the hell is she? I can't see her."

"I heard her too," Alaric confirmed.

"She said I need to invite someone in- I guess I better do that," Elena said, shaking her head, trying to put herself together.

"Okay, you can come in," Elena said. It took her a moment to ask an obvious question. She heard whoever it was come inside, and then it dawned on her. "Why the hell did I need to invite someone in? Did I just invite vampires into the house? Why the _hell _would Bonnie want me to invite vampires into this house?" Elena said, starting to panic.

She was also starting to feel very dizzy. Everything was going absolutely wrong.

She realized that Alaric had let go of her, and it would have been great if he hadn't actually done that right now. She might not have hit the ground when her body just gave out on her.

Elena fell to the floor.

"Anton, you help her," Katherine yelled, rushing up the stairs after Bonnie.

Anton went to Elena and gave her some blood.

Alaric knew there was someone else in the room, he just couldn't see them at all.

Caroline and Tyler had tried, to no success, to get in between Stefan and Damon to break up the fight they knew was going to happen from the second Damon started climbing the stairs.

Bonnie had showed up and started in with her aneurism specialty, but instead of only bringing Stefan and Damon down in pain, she had done the same thing to Tyler and Caroline also because she didn't have enough energy to focus her magic on just Stefan and Damon.

Bonnie had Stefan, Damon, Tyler and Caroline yelling and clutching their heads in pain, but she was feeling weaker by the second.

She held on for a few seconds but then she fell to the ground. She'd used too much magic in such a short amount of time.

With Bonnie knocked out, the pain of the other four stopped and Stefan and Damon were back at it again.

Tyler and Caroline wanted to try to break the brothers up again, but they suddenly saw Bonnie appearing, the illusion wearing off, lying on the ground and rushed to get her out of the room instead.

That explained the pain.

A blur with dark hair sped passed Caroline and Tyler on the stairs and headed into the fight zone.

"What the hell was that?" Tyler asked. "That looked like Elena. But Elena can't move that fast."

"No friggin' way," Caroline said, teeth clenched as they brought Bonnie downstairs. She was almost certain that the blur was Katherine. "That bitch better not be out of the tomb. My eyesight better just be really messed up."

Back in Stefan's room, Katherine tried yelling at Stefan and Damon to get away from each other. That, of course, didn't work, so Katherine forced herself between them instead.

"You gonna stop now?" she asked, shoving them both away from each other.

Both brothers looked at her, confused.

"Stay the hell away from each other. I'm not really in the mood to have to break you two apart again."

"Katherine," Stefan and Damon said at the exact same time.

"Yep, that's me."

Damon's jaw dropped a bit, and he was about to ask her how she got out of the tomb, but the question never came. Instead, Elena could be heard yelling.

"Get out of this house right now. Now!" she yelled.

Both Stefan and Damon made a dash for the stairs as soon as they heard Elena's raised voice. Katherine followed them down.

"Elena, calm down," Bonnie said, weakly, opening her eyes. "I brought him to help out. It's okay."

"It's _not_ okay, Bonnie. I want this bastard out right now!" Elena said, shoving Anton away from her.

Caroline was confused. Sure, the guy wasn't exactly anyone's favourite, but Elena's reaction seemed a little strong.

"Elena I know we don't exactly love the guy, but just breathe babe. I'm sure it'll be fine," Caroline said to Elena, shrugging at Bonnie.

"You got him out?" Elena asked Bonnie.

Bonnie nodded.

"You got Katherine out too, then. Where the hell is she?" Elena asked.

"Right here," Katherine answered, coming down the stairs after Stefan and Damon.

"Why the hell would you let Bonnie get him out too?" Elena asked Katherine angrily.

"To help," Katherine said simply.

"Why are you so against him helping out?" Bonnie asked Elena. "The more strength we've got to keep you from getting sacrificed, the better it is."

"I don't want his friggin' help," Elena said, glaring at Anton. "Do you know what he did to Katherine? There's a friggin' fabulous reason that she hates his guts, and I don't want him anywhere near me either."

Katherine was confused and a bit worried. _It sounds like she knows what went down. But she can't know. Only Stefan knows._

"Elena, I don't know what you think you know, but just leave it alone," Katherine said carefully.

"He fucking raped you! We don't need his help and I don't want it!"

"Elena, shut up," Katherine warned in a deadly tone.

Everyone's eyes were on Katherine now, except for Stefan and Damon. They finally saw Anton, and then shit really hit the fan.

Both brothers still very much wanted to kick each other's asses, but they both charged at Anton and proceeded to lay a beating on the older vampire. Anton could have fought back, but he didn't even bother to defend himself.

He took the beating in silence because he deserved it, and hearing the words come off Elena's lips made him even sicker with himself.

Blood squirted in different directions as Stefan and Damon continued their assault on Anton.

"Okay you two, stop it," Katherine said, sighing.

They didn't stop.

Katherine moved over to them, and once again got in between the two brothers, but this time it was to shove them off of off Anton.

"He's here to help keep Elena safe. That's all you guys need to focus on. Anything else there is- it's _my _shit to deal with. Just leave him alone," Katherine told Stefan and Damon.

After a moment of glaring down at Anton, Stefan and Damon turned their attention back to each other, and Katherine warned them. "Don't even think about fighting with each other again. Barbie, you're buddies with Stefan- talk to him, calm him down. Bennett, take Damon. Elena, come with me," Katherine said, taking hold of Elena's arm.

Caroline took Stefan by the arm and Bonnie grabbed Damon and they took the brothers off in different directions of the house.

Anton walked out the back door.

"What the _fuck? _You want to explain what the hell is going on here?" Tyler said, looking to the only other person in the room now, Alaric.

"Yeah, I don't even know the half of what's going on here," Alaric said, rubbing his temples.

"How about telling me since when does Elena have a twin?"

"That one, I can actually answer. That's not Elena's twin. Katherine's over 500 years old. She's Elena's ancestor and she turned Stefan and Damon in 1864. I don't know anything about that guy, though."

"Wow," Tyler said, shaking his head. "So you're in on all this freaky supernatural business too, huh? High-school teacher's not really just the high-school teacher, then?"

"There's nothing supernatural about me, if that's what you're getting at," Alaric said.

"How'd you get in on all this then?" Tyler asked.

"The woman I was married to is Elena's biological mother," Alaric said, shrugging. "There's more than that, but that's the main reason, I guess."

"So, I guess we just sit here and wait to find out more crazy things," Tyler sighed.

"I guess," Alaric said, taking a seat on the sofa.

o-o-o-o-o-o

"What the hell was that, Elena?" Katherine hissed.

"I was there today with Damon. I heard what you said when stupid Elijah compelled you. Anton raped you. I might not be your biggest fan but I'll choose you over him any day. Do you know how disgusted I feel when I think about the fact that I'm here, walking around, because you got raped by that bastard," Elena said, blurting it all out.

Katherine took a deep breath. "If you were there today, you would have heard me say that I loved my daughter. It's not like you came around because of a kid I couldn't stand or didn't want. Whatever hate and anger I have for Anton is for _him,_ it has nothing to do with my daughter- so you don't need to feel bad or whatever," Katherine said awkwardly. "You had _no_ right to open your mouth in front of everyone, no right at all. Do you know how humiliating it was for me to actually have to say what happened to me out loud in the damn tomb to what I thought was only Stefan and Elijah- then you had to go and open your mouth right now in front of all these people."

"Sorry," Elena said quietly.

"What happened is my business. I'm not that girl anymore. That shit will never happen to me again. I'll never be in that position again. You forget what you heard today, got it? Don't think about it anymore, don't talk about it," Katherine said, trying to remain calm.

"Okay," Elena sighed.

"Seems like maybe I should say thank you to you, though,' Katherine said, shaking her head.

Elena shrugged.

"You're feeling bad for being an annoying little twit to me, so you try to stick up for me when I don't need it," Katherine said, unable to keep from smiling a little bit.

Elena rolled her eyes.

"Now, bonding moment over- what the hell did you do to make Stefan and Damon want to kick the shit out of each other, drunky?"

"And the bitch is back," Elena mumbled.

"Please tell me that you didn't do what I think you did."

"What- you mean take a page out of your book?" Elena said, putting her head in her hands.

Katherine raised her eyebrow. "You're such an idiot."

"Don't need a reminder from you, thank you very much," Elena said, eyes getting wet again.

"I don't understand you, Elena. You had Stefan, you had his love and you broke up with him."

"I won't share him with you. I can't do it. He still has feelings for you. I think he still loves you, he just can't say it-"

"So you went off and screwed Damon, and now _Stefan_ has to share you with _him_," Katherine said, interrupting her.

"You should be happy," Elena told Katherine. "He's never going to forgive me now. He's all yours for the taking... You're welcome," Elena said, turning away, not wanting to cry in front of Katherine.

"You've got Stefan wrapped around your finger. I think he can forgive you for anything," Katherine said, frowning.

"I got drunk and had sex with his brother in his bed. I don't know how he's going to forgive me for that. I doubt that even you ever did _that._"

"Enough about your absolute stupidity. Let's get some coffee into your system and sober you up," Katherine said, motioning Elena towards the kitchen.

o-o-o-o-o-o-o

"What the hell happened, Damon?" Bonnie asked, gripping the wall, feeling dizzy.

"What's wrong with you?" Damon asked, ignoring the question.

"Answer the question," she said.

"_You_ answer. What's wrong with you? Are you okay? You look like you're going to fall over," Damon said, looking down at her.

"Well, that's how I feel at the moment- thanks to you and Stefan," Bonnie said, closing her eyes for a second. "I would have been fine, even though I did a lot of magic, but your favourite- my aneurisms- took a bit too much out of me when I added that on to the other stuff I did."

"Here," Damon said, biting into his wrist.

"I don't need your blood Damon, I just need to relax and build up my energy on my own. It shouldn't take too long."

"Take it," Damon said, practically shoving his wrist in her mouth. "Just swallow it. Give me one less thing to feel like shit about, please."

Bonnie swallowed the blood, thinking that she'd get Damon to talk now.

"What happened? Just spit it out," Bonnie said, having a very bad feeling about what she was going to hear.

"I need to get out of here," he said, moving passed her, heading for the door.

Bonnie followed him.

"Get back here and tell me what happened," she said, exasperated.

"I need to get out of here," he said again, moving past Tyler and Alaric.

"Damon, you're not leaving," she said, trying to catch up with him.

"Afraid I'm gonna go kill someone, Bon-Bon?" Damon asked with a grin that didn't reach his eyes.

"Why would _I_ be afraid of that? You know what would happen if you did that- it would be _your_ funeral, not mine," Bonnie said calmly. "I've told you enough times that I'm sure it's seared into your head by now- you kill someone and I'll take you out."

Tyler and Alaric watched Damon and Bonnie interacting.

"You don't mean it, though, Judgey. We're all chummy now- you'd miss me," Damon said, facing her now.

"Yeah, I _would_ miss you, crazy as that sounds," Bonnie admitted. "But don't doubt me, Damon, if you spill innocent blood I will end you once and for all," Bonnie said, looking him straight in the eye. "I'll kill you and then I'll feel even worse than I already do- you really wanna make me feel even more horrible today? It's not enough that my father, my boyfriend and my childhood friend were all buried- you really want me to add sweeping up your ashes to the list of shitty things that happened today? You're supposed to be my friend now- you're not supposed to do things that are gonna hurt me," she said sadly, but also strategically too. She could use his soft spot for her, just like he tried to use hers for him.

"I don't wanna hurt you," Damon said, shaking his head.

"Then don't be stupid," she told him softly. "Come talk to me."

"Fine," Damon said, walking back into the room they were in a moment earlier.

Alaric and Tyler were pretty impressed.

o-o-o-o-o-o

"She's not in love with Damon. You know that, right?" Caroline said gently, pulling Stefan down to sit with her.

"Caroline, please don't start," Stefan said, taking a deep breath, trying to stay calm, picturing Damon and Elena again.

"She misses you. She loves you so much that it hurts, and she's already hurting so much. She just needed to forget for awhile. She was only with him to try to make loving you hurt less."

"I know that she's your best friend, but please do not make excuses to me right now. I don't want to hear it, and I don't believe it. She wants him. She left me for him."

"No she didn't," Caroline insisted, knowing that it wasn't going to make any difference to Stefan right now.

"I take it that you've finally talked to Tyler," Stefan said, changing the subject.

Caroline knew that she wasn't going to get anywhere with Stefan right now so she just nodded.

o-o-o-o-o-o

Damon told Bonnie about him and Elena hearing everything that Katherine had been compelled to say by Elijah, and Bonnie understood how that could have completely set Damon off and messed him up in the head. She could clearly picture Damon heading off to the bar after leaving the tomb.

And then he told her the rest, the worst.

"Oh my God," Bonnie whispered. "You stupid, _stupid, _idiot!"

"Don't be a bitch," Damon told her.

"Why didn't you call me when you were getting drunk? I told you to call me when you were feeling crazy and like you were gonna do something stupid. I told you I would help you out-"

"I _was_ going to call you!" Damon yelled, frustrated as hell as realization hit him that he had messed up _so _ badly today. "I was there at the damn bar and I was gonna call you to come help my fix my messed up head."

"Then why didn't you?" Bonnie asked, a bit more gently at seeing how frustrated he was.

"I didn't want to bug you today. I figured you already had enough on your plate with the funeral. I didn't want to dump my stuff on you after that, plus I had a feeling that this little group meeting was probably going to end up giving you a headache, so I figured I'd just leave you alone and not stress you out more," he said.

Bonnie's expression softened, and she just shook her head.

"This day is just one big pile of shit," Bonnie said quietly.

"I think I just did the thing that's gonna make my brother finally hate my guts for the rest of our existence. He's hated me, but he's always loved me deep down- that's gone. He's finally just gonna hate me... Elena's never gonna love me, is she?"

Bonnie took a deep breath and shook her head. "Not the way you want her to."

"She pretty much told me that," Damon admitted.

"You shouldn't have taken advantage of her, Damon," Bonnie sighed.

"I didn't force her into anything," Damon said angrily, slamming his fist through the wall.

Tyler and Alaric rushed into the room.

"Bonnie!" both said at the same time.

"It's fine guys. No worries," Bonnie said calmly.

"You sure?" Tyler asked.

"Don't worry about it, Ty. Everything's fine here. Damon's just decided the wall would look better with a hole in it... Thanks for coming by the way. I know you're probably freaked out right now, but I promise, give us all a little bit of time and me and Stefan will explain everything. Okay?"

"Okay," Tyler said, leaving the room with Alaric.

"You calm now, psycho?" Bonnie asked Damon, frowning."I didn't mean take advantage in the way you thought. Frankly, if that was the case, you and me wouldn't be talking right now. You'd very likely be dead at my feet."

Damon rolled his eyes.

"I know you didn't _force_ her into anything, but you did take advantage of the situation. She was out of her head like an idiot, messed up over Stefan and everything else. You and Elena fucked up so bad. You didn't just hurt Stefan, you hurt each other. I know Elena, she's beating herself up right now... You should have known better, Damon. You know how much she loves Stefan. She's gonna hate herself for this. You're gonna hurt-"

"Is it that crazy to think that somebody could love me?" Damon asked, interrupting, banging his head against the wall.

"_Somebody,_no. _Elena,_yes," Bonnie told him. "Stefan's the love of her life, and it's always gonna be like that. You mark my words. I don't know what the future holds, but if she doesn't somehow end up back with him and she lives out her life and gets older, gets married and all that stuff, you come back and ask me then who the love of her life is- I _guarantee_ you that her answer will still be Stefan.

"It's not that there's anything inherently wrong with you, it's just that your brother is the one she's in love with... You have shitty luck. You fall for the ones who are in love with your brother, but it doesn't mean anything. You can find love if you want to, you've just got to be open to it coming from a face that looks different than Elena's and Katherine's. I'm sure you've broken girls' hearts, just pushed them aside because for over a century the only thing you cared about was Katherine, and then more recently Elena. If there's one thing I can say for you it's that you're devoted to the ladies you love. For all your faults and your craziness, when you find someone else- when you find someone who doesn't love another person, and you _will_, she's gonna be lucky in that regard."

"How much do I owe you for the pep talk, Bon-Bon?" Damon asked.

Bonnie rolled her eyes at him. "How about you stay away from your brother tonight and just try not to talk too much and I'll waive my fee this time," she said, smiling a little.

"How generous of you, Miss Bennett."

"What can I say, I'm a giver," Bonnie grinned, shrugging.

"B-" Damon was about to say something, but Bonnie cut him off with a slap in the face.

"Speaking of being a giver- you just had to be given a good smack across the face."

"What the hell was that for?" Damon asked, glaring at Bonnie.

"That was for sleeping with Elena in your brother's bed," she said.

"Elena's not going to be getting slapped in the face I hope," Damon asked sarcastically.

"Nope, that was just special for you."

"What would I do without you, Judgey?" Damon asked sarcastically. "Oh, I know- I'd be abused a lot less."

"Somebody needs to keep you in line," Bonnie said, laughing a bit.

"And you call _me,_psycho? That's rich coming from the girl who laughs at causing me pain," Damon said, grinning a little.

"Better now?" Bonnie asked after a minute, joking aside. "You feeling calmer now?"

Damon nodded. "You're getting good at this whole 'dealing with Damon' thing, Judgey."

o-o-o-o-o-o

Katherine stood by the back door. She was watching Anton outside. He was pretty much destroying anything that could be destroyed. And his eyes were shining. He was crying.

This was weird. She should not be feeling bad for this guy, but she actually kind of was at the moment. It was justified that she hated him, but somehow having everyone gang up on him with hate didn't make her feel good. He could be vilified by her, but to have the others hate him-she actually felt bad about that.

She didn't want his help, and she honestly didn't know if she would ever forgive him, but at this point she didn't want him to suffer any more than he already did. She knew he would never forgive himself for what he did to her. She knew he hated himself. There would not be a day where he didn't torture himself over what he had done to her. There wouldn't be a day where he would let himself forget. There would not be a day that he wasn't going to love her and know that she would never love him back because of what he did.

There didn't need to be any more suffering for him than that.

With the bit of feeling bad for him, and everyone in the house knowing what really happened with him, though, the need for his absence grew stronger. She didn't want to see him. Being around him was too much for her. She didn't have the extra energy or strength for it. She _needed _him gone. She honestly could not handle having him around for another day. She was going to go insane being in such close proximity to him all the time while knowing that everyone knew what he did to her. She needed to make him leave. _Yes, _ he would have been a great help against Klaus and Elijah, but she was confident that they could manage without him. There was no shortage of people here willing to fight to keep Elena safe.

Katherine sighed and walked outside, closing the door behind her.

Elena walked into the room just as Katherine went outside.

Elena went to where Katherine had stood and watched the two people she could farthest back trace her roots to.

She didn't think that Anton had seen Katherine yet. He was still destroying things.

Elena just stood there, watching. She couldn't hear anything, but for whatever reason, she was glued to her spot, not wanting to take her eyes off of Katherine and Anton.

She heard someone enter the room and she knew it was Stefan without having to look.

He didn't say a word, so she didn't either.

He watched her, as she watched her ancestors outside.

Katherine must have said something to let Anton know that she was there because he stopped in his tracks.

"She's been out there for a few minutes. He didn't notice she was there until now. He was too busy destroying your backyard. I think he was crying, too," Elena said, still watching Katherine and Anton, afraid that if she turned around to face Stefan he would leave.

"He _should_cry for what he did to her," Stefan said.

"Absolutely," Elena said, almost choking on the word. "He did something unforgiveable. He loved her and then he ruined everything," Elena said quietly, now thinking of herself and Stefan.

There was silence after that. Stefan joined her by the door, though and looked on with her at Anton and Katherine.

"Can you hear what they're saying?" Elena asked, seeing their lips move.

"She's telling him to leave town. She says there's no place for him here. She says he's just torturing himself by hanging around. He says it doesn't matter. He only wants to make sure that you and her are safe. She says she doesn't need him. She says you'll both be fine. He said that she let Bonnie get him out of the tomb so that he could help keep you safe. She says that's true, but he's not _necessary_. She says we can manage here on our own. She wants him to go. Now he's saying that he can't leave her while she's in trouble. She says she's been escaping trouble for centuries," Stefan told Elena.

Anton hadn't responded, and Katherine spoke again.

"She told him that if he ever really loved her he would leave. Now he's saying that she's being stubborn- he says she knows that he loves her," Stefan said.

Stefan didn't need to say anymore because Katherine's voice had started to rise.

"I'm not being stubborn, that's you. You're the one who's not listening to me. You keep saying that you love me, but you're not proving it. You don't respect my wishes, you don't listen to what I tell you. Seriously, if you really love me, you'll leave. It's not easy seeing you. It's tiring. It _hurts_. It brings back way too much," Katherine said in a burst of honesty and anger.

"I'm sorry for that, and I promise you when this is all over you will never have to see me again."

"Anton, I know that you want my forgiveness more than pretty much anything, but you're never gonna get it like this."

"Is there _actually_ a chance that I'll ever get it?" he asked her.

"Maybe," she told him.

"You're not just saying that?" he asked.

"No, I'm not just saying that. Get out of here. Get out of this town, listen to me for _once_, and maybe I can forgive you some day."

Anton studied Katherine's face, trying to discern if she was being genuine.

"I can't leave you."

"Yes you can. We'll be fine here. _Go_- and let me try to forgive you. I can't have you here, _especially_ with them all knowing what you did. Stop causing me pain. Prove you love me. Prove you're sorry- leave."

Anton was silent for a moment, and looking conflicted as hell.

"Are you _sure _ that you guys can take down Klaus and Elijah without the extra help?" Anton asked, taking a deep breath.

"We have the weapons that will kill them. We'll be fine. I will be fine. Elena will be fine. Isobel will be fine," Katherine told him.

"Swear it. _Promise_ me you'll be fine," Anton said, wiping at his eyes.

_I can't guarantee anything for sure, but I'll say anything to make you leave right now._ "I promise."

More silence. More thinking.

"Please do one thing for me," Anton said, getting quiet again.

"What?" Katherine asked.

"Let me see her. Let me see what she looked like, please. Just once."

Katherine knew he was talking about Rayna.

"You're really leaving?"she asked.

"I promise you I will leave," he finally said.

Katherine stared at him for a minute.

"Close your eyes," she finally said. "Clear your head to let me in."

He immediately closed his eyes.

Elena and Stefan both watched intently.

It took a few minutes, but they could tell when the image of Rayna appeared in his head- a large smile formed on his face.

A moment later he opened his eyes back up.

"Thank you, Katerina."

Katherine just sighed in response.

"I'm sorry for what I did. I'll never be able to say it enough, I know, but I really am sorry. I loved you from the first time I saw you. I _never_wanted to hurt you."

"I know," she replied.

"_Please_, call me if you need me. If you need me I'll be here before you have time to blink."

"We won't need any help, Anton. It's time for you to go now," Katherine said, trying to keep her voice steady.

He stared at her for a good minute straight before walking back inside.

Anton saw Stefan and Elena, and addressed Elena.

"I know that you hate me, but it was lovely to meet you. I wish you nothing but a beautiful, _wonderful_, long and happy life. My offer still stands. Call me whenever you need anything. Please tell your mother the same thing."

He said that, and then continued walking, straight across the house and out the front door.

Stefan looked down at Elena. "Are you okay?" he asked her.

"I don't know what I feel about that," she said, taking a deep breath. "Stefan-"

"Elena, if you're going to say something about you and Damon, just don't. That's not something I'm gonna talk about with you."

"I'm sorry, Stefan," she whispered, feeling her eyes get wet again.

"I know you are, but it doesn't change anything," he said, trying not to look at her.

"Does this mean that you're gonna forget ever loving me?" Elena asked, trying to keep her tears from falling.

"I'm not ever going to forget that Elena. I wouldn't be able to if I tried," Stefan said, leaving the room, needing some space.


	59. Chapter 59

**o-0-o-0-o**** I am SO, SO sorry that it's taken so long to update. School has been murderous with midterms and essays and there's been some personal stuff going on. Thanks so much to David Fishwick, Stelena lover, Classy. In. Red, Tina, Raya, Marie and Hooked-On-TVD for reviewing Chapter 58.**** Here's chapter 59. I hope you'll enjoy it. Please take a minute of your time to leave me a review and let me know what you think o-0-o-0-o**

Elena stayed at her spot by the door, watching Katherine for a couple minutes. Elena wasn't quite sure what to make of her. Katherine was definitely a complicated individual.

Elena decided she should leave before Katherine came back in and accused her of eavesdropping on her conversation with Anton. Before she could leave the room on her own, however, Caroline appeared, taking her by the arm. "There you are. Come on, you, me and Bonnie need to have a little chat."

They walked into the next room and Caroline pulled Bonnie to them, continuing their way to the front door.

"Be good, Damon. Go talk to Alaric," Caroline called out, as she, Elena and Bonnie walked outside, and closed the door behind them.

o-o-o-o-o-o

Stefan saw that Elena had left her spot and went off with Bonnie and Caroline, so he went back to the door and watched Katherine for a moment. He decided to go out and see her. He wasn't going to tell her that he'd heard her conversation with Anton. If she wanted to talk about it, she would bring it up. He wasn't going to do it and chance making her uncomfortable.

He opened the door somewhat noisily to let her know that he was there.

Katherine was sitting on the ground with her eyes closed and her head tilted upwards, towards the sun.

"So this is where you ran off to," Stefan said, closing the door behind him. "Miss the sun, huh?" Stefan commented.

"I was stuck in a tomb- I definitely miss the sun," she said, opening her eyes.

"I noticed that Anton left."

"Yeah, he's gone. I finally got him to leave," she said, sighing, closing her eyes again. "I love it out here," Katherine said, changing the subject.

"It's a nice day," Stefan said, not pushing the topic any further, taking a seat on the ground next to her.

"Are you okay?" Katherine asked, opening her eyes once more, turning to face Stefan.

"I still want to pound Damon into the ground and I can hardly look at Elena right now," was all he said.

"They were there today- Elena and Damon," Katherine said, taking a deep breath. "Elena told me that they heard what I said."

"That would definitely explain Elena's reaction to Anton and why she said what she said, and why Damon went after Anton with me," Stefan sighed. "Are _you _okay?"

"Oh, I'm just fabulous. I always wanted a whole bunch of people to find out what Anton did to me from a drunk and screaming Elena," Katherine said sarcastically. "And what was that from you and Damon, huh- attacking Anton like that?"

"He had that coming," Stefan said, rubbing his head. "I asked Alaric if he knew anything about a picture that might have been with your family's history book, but he doesn't remember seeing anything like that. But we can look around here, see if somehow it might be here. I'll ask Elena if she remembers seeing anything if you want me to," Stefan said, switching the topic like Katherine had a moment earlier.

"Eternally the good guy," Katherine said quietly, leaning in to give Stefan a quick kiss on the cheek.

Stefan looked at her for a moment, not angrily, just questioningly, asking without actually asking what that was.

She just grinned and shrugged her shoulders.

She got up and headed back to the house. "I'm calling Isobel. She'd want in on this. She's Elena's mother. She'd be handy to have with us in this."

Stefan just nodded.

"This doesn't serve my interests _at all_, but what the hell, I don't like seeing you look so devastated. Elena never meant to hurt you. I don't think she's in love with Damon, Stefan," Katherine said.

"I'll see you inside in a few minutes," Stefan said, not acknowledging Katherine's last statement. He didn't even want to think of Elena and Damon in the same sentence. He didn't want to think about them together in any way, even if it was only grammatically.

"You know that it's hard for me knowing how much you love Elena, but if you need to talk about her or whatever- if it's gonna make you feel better, you can talk to me," Katherine said awkwardly, quickly closing the door, going back inside.

o-o-o-o-o-o-o

"Okay, number 1- now that she's a little bit less drunk and I don't have to feel so bad for being pissed off at her for doing something so stupid, can you please join me in telling our best friend that she's a friggin' idiot," Caroline said to Bonnie, referring to Elena.

"Care, come on. She already knows she screwed up," Bonnie sighed. "If she was walking around acting like nothing was wrong it would be different, but she knows that Damon and her royally messed up. Let's just lay off."

"I love you, Elena, and that's why I won't side against you in front of anyone outside of us three. And I honestly think I can actually picture what was going through your head when you did what you did, but I still just can't believe it," Caroline told Elena, not trying to be mean, but so frustrated with her at the same time.

Elena couldn't stand it, but for what seemed like the billionth time that day and the trillionth time that week, her eyes started to water with the overload of emotions.

"Oh come on, Caroline. Did you really want to make her cry again?" Bonnie said, hugging Elena

Elena hugged Bonnie back tightly.

"We've done enough crying for today- enough for a lifetime, actually. We don't need to be making each other shed tears now, too," Bonnie said to Caroline over Elena's shoulder, tired.

"Sorry babe," Caroline sighed, getting in on the hug. "I just hate that Stefan's so hurt. You're my BFF and I'd take a stake in the heart for you, but I love Stefan a lot, too."

"I know," Elena said quietly. "Trust me, if there was a rewind button on life, nothing would be like it is right now. No one would be gone, and me and Damon never would have-" Elena didn't even bother finishing her sentence. She couldn't get the look on Stefan's face when he found her with Damon out of her head.

Elena opened the door to go back inside and Bonnie and Caroline followed her.

"Now B, can you tell me what the hell _you _were thinking when you decided to let that bitch out of the tomb- you know, the one that _killed _me," Caroline said, taking a deep breath, attention shifting to Bonnie.

Katherine was going to take this comment as an opportunity to make everyone forget about what Elena said about what Anton had done to her by being a bitch. She much preferred to be perceived as a bitch than a victim. It was strategic, but bitchiness came pretty naturally to her so there wouldn't be too much pretending. It wouldn't be hard at all, especially because it was Caroline. There were a lot of great mean things she could say to her to piss her off.

"Oh shut up, Caroline," Katherine said, seemingly appearing out of nowhere. "Let's be honest, me killing you was a favour to everyone- yourself included. You're better now than you ever were and you know it. You used to be nothing more than a shallow, selfish, whiny little bitch. This you, now- it's an improvement. You wanna know what Bonnie was thinking in getting me out of that tomb? She was thinking that I'm the strongest vampire any of you know whose name is not Elijah, and she wants to keep Elena safe and alive. Having my help definitely increases your chance for that because I have no intention of letting this idiot die," Katherine said, nodding in Elena's direction. "And if it makes you feel better, Blondie, which I don't give a shit if it does because you mean nothing to me, the witch bitched me out about being nice to you, so shut up and stop acting like a betrayed friend. Be thankful one of your two besties actually knows how to use the brain in her head. Bonnie didn't do anything wrong, so shut up about it. Don't piss me off and I'll play nice. We have a common interest here. You don't want your buddy dead, and I don't want my last living relative dead. Suck it up and _shut_ the hell up, Forbes."

"Watch it," Tyler said angrily. "Don't talk to Caroline like that."

Katherine laughed. _Perfect. Let's have a go with the werewolf. _

"You like to act to act tough, huh," Katherine grinned. "If you're anything like your uncle, your bark is much worse than your bite," she said to Tyler, and then she turned back to Caroline. "Oh, and just a heads up, Barbie, if Tyler turns out to be anything like his uncle be prepared to never really be satisfied. I've been in bed with his uncle, trust me, you're not in for anything-mind blowing or memorable," she said. "Oh come on Barbie doll, don't look so scandalized, we all know that's where you two are headed. You want to screw each other but you can't yet because it's too soon after Gorgeous-Eyes died."

Caroline was seething. If she was thinking she would know that she was no match for Katherine, but she was pissed. Caroline lunged at Katherine, but just got thrown across the room by her instead.

Caroline hit the wall on the opposite side of the room head-first. Tyler, Elena and Bonnie ran to Caroline's side.

"Honey, don't _ever _ try to take me on. I've got over 500 years on you. You don't stand a chance baby-vamp. Try something like that again and I'll kill you for _real _ next time. Now, if you want to start fresh for our little stint working on the same side, we can call a truce. Don't piss me off and I'll play nice. Got it?" Katherine said, smirking, pushing her hair out of her face.

"Katherine, leave her the hell alone," Stefan said, coming into the room.

"Aww Stefan, don't spoil the fun," Katherine said, pretending to pout.

"Are you okay, Caroline?" Stefan asked.

"I'm fine," Caroline said, getting up and brushing herself off.

"Isn't he the sweetest?" Katherine asked Caroline, grinning.

"He's definitely sweet," Caroline agreed, giving Katherine a dirty look, walking away.

Stefan put his head in his hands. This group environment was going to be crazy. "Bonnie, wanna come outside with me?" Stefan asked, walking out the door.

"Yes, _please._My head is pounding,"Bonnie said, following him out, closing the door behind it.

"Fun day, huh?" Bonnie said sarcastically, pushing her hair out of her face.

"Oh yes, the most fun day ever," Stefan agreed, sharing Bonnie's sarcasm.

"You gonna be okay with all of this?" Bonnie asked.

"What, you mean working with my brother and being around Elena after I found them screwing each other in my bed?" Stefan said, managing a devastated smile.

"I wasn't going to go into specifics, but yeah," Bonnie sighed.

"I'm always gonna protect Elena, Bonnie. I'm always gonna love her. She's made it clear that we're done, and after today I've accepted it. We're over, but I'm _never_ gonna let anything happen to her, so don't worry- I'll find a way to deal with Damon somehow."

Bonnie stared at the younger Salvatore for a moment and felt beyond horrible for him. It wasn't fun seeing him look so sad. "You're a really good guy, Stefan. I hope you know that."

Stefan gave her a small smile. "Enough about me. It's probably a really stupid question, but how are you doing? You brought down the seal on the tomb yourself, and I imagine you were the one frying our brains earlier," Stefan said quietly, just in case there were any unwanted guests lurking around.

"I'm feeling okay now. Not too bad."

"That's good. Why didn't you tell me you were going to get Katherine out today, though?" Stefan asked, keeping an eye out for anyone around.

"I didn't know I was going to do it until today," Bonnie told him. "Luka told me that Elijah was leaving for a couple days today and that when he came back he probably wasn't going to be leaving anymore after that, so it was pretty much do it today or never get her out. If Elijah's constantly going to be lurking, it would have been a hell of a lot harder to get her out any other time. And I did try to call you. I wanted to let you know what was going on but you never answered," she explained.

Stefan pulled out his phone, and sure enough Bonnie had called. He had 8 missed calls form her.

"Sorry," he said. "I guess I forgot to turn the volume back on. I had put it on silent during the funeral."

"Don't worry about it," Bonnie said.

"No, really- I'm sorry. That was stupid of me," Stefan said, shaking his head.

"Hey, seriously, it's fine," Bonnie said gently.

"You know what? You're definitely one of the strongest people I've ever met, Bonnie," Stefan said.

"Thanks," Bonnie said, laughing a little.

"You and Elena and Caroline all lost people, and I know each of them meant something to all of you, but on the whole you were closer to all three of them- your dad, Jeremy and Matt. Elena's the closest to Jeremy and Caroline to Matt currently, but Jeremy was your boyfriend and from what I know you've always been consistently close with Matt. Elena and him drifted apart a bit after they were over, and Caroline and Matt only got together more recently in the big picture of your lives. And well your dad is your dad. I think you're pretty amazing to be handling everything so well, especially with all this other stuff we have going on... I have a feeling that you and I are not going to be the most popular people when we go back inside and explain everything that's been going on and what we've been doing, so I think that you should hear it from someone now- you're an awesome friend for what you've been willing to do to make sure the people you love stay safe."

"You're sweet for saying that, and I guess I should probably tell you now because I have a feeling that Damon's gonna let it slip somehow. It's been you and me in this since the beginning, so I don't want you to be shocked and find out later. Please don't say that I was crazy for doing what I did because, you know what- it worked. I've been getting stronger pretty fast."

"What have you been doing?" Stefan asked, feeling a bit nervous.

"My original plan was to have Lucy help me practice and get stronger that way, and she would have helped me open the tomb, but she died," Bonnie said, pausing for a moment, remembering Lucy. "I wanted to keep Elena safe more than ever, and I was angry. I wanted and needed to get stronger. I was going to look through the grimoires I had and see if I could find anything. I didn't think I was going to find anything about short-cuts to make me stronger, and I didn't."

"The only other thing would be dark magic or continuously pushing yourself with magic until it got to be too much. I know you didn't resort to the dark stuff," Stefan said, starting to piece things together.

"I had 2 sets of promises that Damon made to use to my benefit, and I did. He promised Emily to protect her family, and he, along with you, also promised my dad to look out for me. I told him he'd be breaking his word twice over if he didn't help me. If I died, he wasn't living up to his word. I used the promises to get him on board with me, even though I think I could have got him to help me without them, but they came in handy. I knew he wasn't going to be crazy about the idea of what I planned to do, so the promises worked as insurance for me. I didn't ask you because I knew you wouldn't like it, and I thought you were already dealing with enough- knowing that Elijah was never on our side... What I did was basically ask Damon to be around when I practiced my magic-"

Stefan picked up where Bonnie left off, figuring out what had been going on. "You pushed yourself to the brink of death," he sighed, shaking his head. "You would just about kill yourself with the amount of magic you did and would get Damon to give you his blood at the last second before your body completely shut down once and for all."

"You got it," Bonnie said, shrugging a bit.

"That was really dangerous, Bonnie," Stefan said, looking at the young witch with a combination of admiration and sadness.

"I'm fine, though. Damon's really had my back throughout this. He made sure I didn't die," Bonnie said, as if this was a topic people talked about everyday.

"I'm glad he did something good for _someone _at least," Stefan said, trying not to let his anger with Damon cloud over the fact that he had made sure Bonnie was okay.

"Okay, no more mentioning the guy whose name starts with the letter D. You don't need to constantly be hearing his name right now. The topic is changing," Bonnie said, figuring that she could at least change the topic and get Damon out of it for Stefan's sake. Stefan had dealt with enough where his brother was concerned for today.

"You're really good at not taking sides and understanding everyone involved. It's a good trait, Bonnie," Stefan said, smiling a bit.

Bonnie just shrugged and returned the smile.

"Luka's coming soon, I'm assuming," Stefan said.

"Yeah," Bonnie said, looking down at her phone. "He'll actually be here in a couple minutes. He just texted me... That's gonna get an interesting reaction from everyone, considering they think he's dead."

"Whatever happens in there, no matter how mad they might get with us- I don't think we were wrong in how we've gone about doing things. We were trying to keep everyone safe while moving forward with plans. We didn't do anything wrong. Don't feel bad about this, Bonnie," Stefan told her, knowing that she was feeling nervous over the reactions they were going to get.

"I think I really needed to hear that," Bonnie admitted.

She was nervous and not at all looking forward to the anger that was probably going to be coming in hers and Stefan's direction.

Bonnie and Stefan stayed outside for a few more minutes until Luka arrived.

Luka and Bonnie said an awkward hello, while Stefan and Luka exchanged nods.

"Do you want us to get rid of that?" Bonnie asked Stefan, nodding in the direction of the bed he had thrown out the window.

"I would appreciate it," Stefan said, not wanting to look at it.

"Go ahead inside then. We'll be there in a few minutes," Bonnie told him, not actually wanting him to go back in.

"Okay," he said, turning around and going back inside.

"So, why is there a bed on the front lawn?" Luka asked, following Bonnie over to the bed.

"Some messed up crap happened," was the only response Bonnie gave him.

"So we're destroying the bed?" Luka asked, hoping for more than a two word response- hoping that she'd actually return his glances for more than one second.

He knew he should have kept his mouth shut earlier. He never should have asked her if he had a shot with her so soon after her boyfriend died.

"Destroying it and making whatever is left disappear," Bonnie said, wanting to get this over with quickly and get back inside so she wouldn't need to be alone with Luka for too long.

After he had asked her if there was going to be a time where he had a chance with her she found it hard to look at him for too long. The atmosphere wasn't calm or casual- it was weird.

"You know what to do, right?" Bonnie asked stupidly

Of course he knew what to do. She just needed to say something, hoping that maybe he'd stop trying to catch her gaze if she kept strictly to business.

"Yeah, Bonnie. I do. I don't know if you remember, but I've actually been at this whole magic thing a bit longer than you."

"Just checking," Bonnie said, taking a deep breath. _ Why the hell does he have to like me? Why did he open his stupid mouth? Why did he have to make everything awkward?_

o-o-o-o-o-o-o

"There he is- the _only _good thing about being in this house with all of you," Katherine said, grinning, seeing Stefan come back in.

Stefan just shook his head and sighed. "Bonnie's gonna be bringing someone here in a few minutes. Most of you will probably be shocked to see him, but don't freak out. Everything me and Bonnie have decided has been for a reason," Stefan said, looking around at everyone in the room.

"Oh, I guess this is a good time to mention that I've invited someone over," Katherine said, looking down at her phone, reading a message from Isobel.

"Who?" Damon asked, sounding curious.

"Isobel," Katherine said, smirking a little bit.

Damon did not look happy and Elena looked completely freaked out.

Elena's hand shot to her mouth, and she ran off to the nearest washroom.

Caroline followed, cringing a bit. She bet that Elena had just thought the same thing she did- something she had forgotten until now. Damon had slept with Elena's mom, and now Elena, too.

"Is she okay?" Tyler asked, as Elena ran off. He was the only one in the room who didn't know about Damon and Isobel.

"She just realized that she and her mother have a lot more in common than just their DNA," Alaric said, rubbing his temples.

He was not looking forward to seeing Isobel. The experiences he had with her recently were not exactly pleasant. She was so different than the wife he had loved. It was never easy seeing her. Whatever, though. He would suck it up and find a way to deal with seeing her again because he knew that despite everything, despite how bitchy she seemed now- she wanted to protect Elena. And he cared a lot about Elena.

Tyler looked confused.

"Elena and her mother have now both had sex with my big brother. Elena's probably gone to puke her guts out because that fact just registered with her," Stefan said, plastering a fake look of not caring on his face- a look that no one believed.

"I'm assuming I'm staying here with you, right?" Or is Bonnie getting burdened with me?" Katherine asked Stefan, trying to change the subject and improve Stefan's mood.

"You're staying here," Stefan said, moving his glance from Damon to Katherine.

Katherine grabbed Stefan's hand. "Come on then, show me where I'm staying," she said, heading upstairs.

If looks could kill, Damon would be dead by Caroline's doing at that moment. She was glaring at him hard. She had come back into the room to grab her purse.

Elena and Bonnie had always teased her about her 'obsessive freaky paranoia' but today that was coming in handy. She always carried around a new toothbrush and travel toothpaste in her purse, and that was a good thing for Elena who, as Stefan predicted, had just thrown up.

Alaric looked like he wished he wasn't there. Tyler looked uncomfortable, and Damon would not have minded in the slightest if the ground opened up and ate him.

"You really like to keep it in that family, don't you? Katherine, Elena's mom and Elena," Tyler commented, not realizing that he was actually speaking out loud.

Caroline couldn't help but laugh as she left the room and went back to Elena.

"Keep your comments to yourself dog-boy," Damon said through clenched teeth.

"Calm down, Damon," Alaric told him.

"Come on, Damon. Be nice," Bonnie said, coming back inside the house.

"Lay-off, Judgey. I'm not in a good mood right now. And I'm a bit pissed off with you too, by the way," Damon muttered, remembering that Stefan said she would be bringing someone by that would probably shock them. He was annoyed at how little Bonnie actually told him about what was going on.

"Well, prepare to keep being pissed off," Bonnie said tiredly.

"Why is anyone gonna be pissed off?" Elena asked, walking back into the room with Caroline, trying to sound like she was okay even though she was still freaking out internally.

"I'm _hoping _no one will be," Bonnie told Elena, and then she turned back towards the door and called out.

"You can come in now."

Luka walked into the Salvatore home as Stefan and Katherine came back downstairs.

"What's up little warlock?" Katherine asked casually, not surprised to see him.

Everyone else besides Stefan and Bonnie, however, was definitely surprised.

"Yeah people, I'm not actually dead. Elijah never really killed me. That was just a story that would be to his benefit," Luka said, feeling weird being amongst this group.

"You don't trust me at all, do you?" Damon said angrily to Bonnie.

_Oh great. Here we go. I don't want to do this right now. I don't want to argue. I don't want to fight. I'm tired and sad and I'm not up for this, not today._

"Don't be like that, Damon," Bonnie sighed. "You know it's not like that anymore. I do trust you."

"Sure doesn't seem like it, Bennett."

"Shut up, Salvatore. As you _love _to remind me, I've been literally trusting you with my life. Give me a break," Bonnie said, angrily, getting into fight mode, even though she was extremely tired.

Bonnie's words seemed to really catch Elena, Caroline, Tyler, and Alaric's attention.

Damon grabbed Bonnie's arm and pulled her into the kitchen.

"Hands off," Bonnie said, shaking Damon off.

He really looked disappointed.

"You wanted me to help you get stronger to get Katherine out of the tomb. Your witchy guy-friend is _alive _and the list goes on. You don't trust me. You don't tell me anything."

"Do you forget that once upon a time, not a long time ago at all, I didn't trust you with anything? Do you forget that I hated you and you hated me- that you tried, and probably would have succeeded if your brother hadn't given me his blood, to kill me and that I've tried to kill you? We went from trying to kill each other to me actually trusting that you'd make sure _I_ didn't kill _myself_ with my magic. I've trusted you with my damn life. My _life._ Is _that _ really _nothing_ to you?" Bonnie said, close to yelling.

She was extremely tired and frustrated, and close to furious. Her hands were clenched into fists and her heart was beating very fast.

"Bonnie!" Luka called out from the other room.

"What?"

"Calm down and breathe," he said.

"I'm perfectly calm," she said, annoyed and lying.

"The flickering lights say otherwise. Just breathe," Luka said, staying in the other room.

Bonnie only grumbled in response, but she did take his advice and took some deep breaths.

"Of course it's not nothing," Damon sighed. "And by the way, I've never hated you."

"Bullshit," she said, rolling her eyes.

"You annoyed the crap out of me and I may not have liked you very much, but I've never actually hated you. And that's _not _bullshit," he told her.

Bonnie looked close to having some sort of fit. She had been consistently strong, but today things were much harder on her, Damon could tell. The funeral was still so fresh in her head that her usual composure and ability to act like things didn't bother her wasn't as strong as usual.

Bonnie just looked at him for a moment. She supposed that this was his way of saying 'Let's call a truce- I'm not actually trying to piss you off.'

She closed her eyes and took another deep breath.

"I trust you just fine, but I also know your temper and how you have a tendency to sometimes act before you think, and I couldn't risk telling you stuff when I was still trying to figure out exactly what I was going to do. I know I didn't tell you a lot, but no one knew anything really apart from Stefan. I didn't even tell Caroline and Elena, Damon- so you can't be that mad. I get why you're mad, but don't be. I _know _you understand wanting to make sure nothing happens to Elena. I didn't want to risk anything jeopardizing that."

Damon just stared at her for a moment. The girl was tired, and sad. It would be a low-blow if he continued to be angry and bug her about things.

"Okay, fine," Damon said, deciding to just drop the subject for Bonnie's sake and the sake of his house. Who knew what might happen if she stayed frustrated and angry. Flickering lights might turn into cracking walls and floors.

Grief, annoyance, tiredness and anger could bring a lot out of a witch. A lot of the time, like just a moment ago, they wouldn't even notice that they were making something happen.

"You're done being pissed off at me now?" Bonnie asked, eyebrow raised.

"You gonna keep me in the dark on stuff anymore?" Damon asked, smirking a bit.

"No."

"Then yes, Bon-Bon, I'm done being pissed at you," he told her.

"Good," Bonnie said, blowing a stray strand of hair out of her face, heading back into the other room, followed by Damon.

Bonnie started talking, ignoring some of the looks of curiosity she was getting.

"Witchy, can you and Stefan just hold off on starting your big tell-all for like five minutes. Isobel will be here soon," Katherine said.

"Fine," Bonnie told her, plopping down on the couch. Elena and Caroline joined her.

"So now that we're delaying story-time a bit, I need to talk to you," Damon said, turning to Katherine.

He needed to do this. He needed to talk to her. He needed everything out on the table. He wanted to hear the truth about everything from her own lips. He wanted her to tell him exactly what it was that she felt for him. He wanted to hear Katherine's feelings about him, and he wanted her to say what they were to _him. _He wanted to hear the truth of off Katherine's lips, and it needed to be directed at him. He didn't want to hear her telling someone else. He wanted her to talk to him. He didn't know why exactly he needed to hear her tell him these things, but he did. He just wanted to hear her tell him the truth once and for all. Damon wanted something that he knew with certainty, because nothing seemed very certain anymore.

"There's nothing to talk about Damon," she sighed, knowing exactly what he wanted to talk about.

"There's plenty to talk about, and you know it," he said.

"Okay, fine," she muttered. This was going to be uncomfortable.

Damon left the room and she followed.

"You wanna tell us what the hell you meant when you said you've been trusting Damon with your life?" Caroline said, poking Bonnie.

Stefan gave Bonnie a sympathetic look.

And Tyler, Alaric, and Luka looked on curiously, also wanting to hear what Bonnie was going to say.

Bonnie tried to tell them it was nothing, but no one believed that answer.

She grumbled and finally explained things.

In the other room, Katherine stood silently, waiting for Damon to speak. He didn't, though. He just stared at her for a moment.

"Okay, Damon, let's get this over with. Say what you need to say," Katherine said, trying to sound like she was annoyed to be in his presence. She tried to build her wall back up quickly, but she wasn't sure it was going to stay standing, not today, not with him. She knew that this wasn't going to be some no-substance conversation. It was going to involve her heart and his heart and it was going to involve him giving her an apology somewhere along the way. She knew it without a doubt.

"Elena and I were in the tomb today," Damon said, starting to regret his decision to pull her aside to talk.

"Lovely," Katherine said, sarcastically. "Is that all you needed to say?"

"I'm not in love with you anymore," Damon said, unable to decide if he should look at her or not.

"That's a relief, but I figured that out on my own," Katherine replied, trying to sound cold. She did enough of the vulnerable thing today and that was because she was compelled. She'd rather try to be mean than have to go through a deep conversation with Damon about feelings and history.

"I loved you for nearly a hundred and fifty years. I loved you with everything I had," Damon said, looking down at his hands.

Katherine turned away and bit her lip.

"And then you came back here and you tore my heart out. You made a fool of me. You told me you never loved me. You made me think I meant nothing to you. You messed with my head. And even after you told me that, I still couldn't let you go, not right away. I still loved you even after you rejected me, but eventually I let it go. I finally told myself I couldn't keep loving someone who didn't even care about me. I haven't loved you in months. But you're still with me, a lot. Like, I'd still wonder why you didn't love me- why you didn't care. And the hurt was still there, even though that all-consuming love wasn't. I love Elena now, and I know that's never going to go anywhere either, but at least I know and I knew before that she cares. Do you know what it's like to think that someone you would gladly die for doesn't even give a shit about you? Do you get what you did to me? You had the ability to turn me into an insecure little boy. You made my world come crashing down when I thought you never gave a damn."

"You're just fine, Damon. Don't be dramatic," Katherine said, taking a breath, keeping her gaze away from Damon.

"Act like a bitch all you want, but I was there in that tomb, Katherine. There's more to you than the bitch you act like. Why did you have to come back here like you did, messing me up? Why couldn't you have said that you at least cared?" Damon said, voice rising a bit, his fists starting to clench.

"There needed to be a clean break, Damon," Katherine said tiredly. "And we both know that if I gave you the 'I loved you, but I wasn't in love with you' speech- that wouldn't have made you happy either."

"It would have been better that what you gave me."

Katherine shook her head and tried to gather herself. Damon was getting to her more than she wanted to allow. She knew that it would be hard to believe because she did a great job of acting like she didn't care most of the time, but she never wanted to hurt Damon. She felt a whole lot for Damon. He wasn't the one for her, but she did love him in her own way. It wasn't the way he wanted, but she did love him. Stefan was the one for her. Stefan was the one she was _in _love with, but Damon had been dear to her, also. The thought of causing him pain hadn't been something that ever made her happy, but she came back for Stefan and thought it was best to make that clear and thought things would be better if she just completely got Damon to get her out of his mind and heart.

"Really? You really think so, Damon?" Katherine asked him, turning to face him again.

"Knowing you at least gave a crap would have been better than thinking I was _nothing _ to you at all," Damon told her.

"I think the truth would have hurt you more those months ago," Katherine said. "You wouldn't have wanted to hear me say 'I came back for Stefan and he's the one I want. He's the one I'm in love with. He's the one I've been aching for, but hey Damon, even though I'm not and never was in love with you, you still meant something to me.' That wouldn't have made you feel good. It doesn't feel good being second best, and you _deserve_ more than being someone's second best. I've grown up Damon. I'm a little less selfish than I used to be even though I don't like to show it."

"Tell me. Now that I'm over you, tell me exactly how it is. Tell me how you feel, honestly. I want to hear it. I need to hear it, Katherine. Please tell me the truth. Give me the truth for once. I think I deserve that from you."

And he did deserve it. He deserved the truth after how she'd played with his head and heart. Even though it would hurt him a bit, if he wanted to hear the truth, she did owe him that much.

"I would, and _have _risked my life to save yours. I would gladly let almost anyone else in this world die if it meant that you were alive and safe and happy. But if it was your life or Stefan's and I could only keep one of you alive I would choose Stefan over you every single time without regret. If I had to die knowing that it would keep you safe, I would, but if I had to kill you or let you die so that Stefan would live, I wouldn't even have to think about what I would do. When it comes to a choice between you and Stefan, I'd always choose Stefan. I'd choose you over almost anyone else, but I always have and always will choose Stefan over you. I was and still am in love with your brother. You were in love with me and I was never in love with you. I loved you, but it was never the way you wanted. I liked your company. You were interesting and smart, and sweet and you were special to me. I didn't like the thought of a world without you in it, but it was selfish of me to turn you, knowing that I would be giving you forever without actually giving you my heart the way you wanted it... I'm sorry that I hurt you. I really _do _regret that. I hope you find a girl who's gonna do better than I did with you. I _want _you to be happy. You deserve that," Katherine said, unable to keep her emotions at bay.

This day was full of far too much emotion, it was time to put an end to all the emotion on display, but Damon was still looking at her with those eyes of his, like he needed to hear something else from her, and she was pretty sure she knew what it was.

"I was lucky to have been loved by you, Damon. I know that. And the same goes for Elena, too. She loves you, but it's the same as me, she's not in love with you. She wants you to be happy like I want you to be happy. You're over me, so that's one box checked off. The next thing you need to do is get your shit together where Elena is concerned. Be happy that she cares about you. Be happy that she's your friend. Be grateful that the girl brought back your humanity. Love her, but get over being _in _love with her. You're not doing yourself _or_ her any favours by being in love with her. Stop thinking about love for awhile. Don't look for it. Let it find you this time. There's no reason to think that it won't. Even though you weren't the one for me and Elena, there's no reason at all for you to think that you're not the one for someone else. There's nothing wrong with you, Damon. You have plenty to offer, loyalty to your women being a big thing. You can be extremely sweet, and you know how to make a girl feel loved. Get over Elena so that one day you can find what you deserve- the girl that's going to love you back the same way you love her," Katherine said, beginning to walk away from him quickly.

She didn't enjoy recounting out loud her mistakes in how she dealt with Damon. She didn't like admitting that she had hurt him a lot.

Stefan was her love, but Damon never deserved to be hurt by her.

Damon caught her arm before she went back into the other room. There was something he needed to say to her, something that had nothing to do with their history and feelings, something that had been eating away at him since he heard what Anton had done to her in the tomb

"What, Damon?" she asked, tired of emotion and regret-filled conversations.

"I'm sorry for bringing that bastard back to Mystic Falls. I'm _so _sorry for that. Despite everything, I swear to God I never would have told him you were here if I knew what he did."

There was the apology for bringing Anton to Mystic Falls, just like she knew there would be.

"It's over now, Damon. The best thing you can do is just never bring him up again. He's gone. I got him to leave like I wanted. There's no reason to think about him anymore, no reason to talk about it. Just forget it all," she told him.

Damon knew that that would be the last thing she would say on the matter, so he let it be.

"Okay, but you've got to give me some explanations as to what the hell you were talking about before when you said you've saved my life. I've never needed anyone's help," he said, smirking a bit.

Katherine grinned a little. "Time to put our cocky-hats back on?" Katherine asked grateful for the end to the mention of Anton, and amused at Damon's words.

"Yep," he said. "Cocky hats back on," Damon said.

"Actually, watch the cocky a little bit. Don't you dare mention to Isobel that you just hooked up with Elena. Not unless you want a bloodbath. You may have turned her and have over a hundred years on her, but Isobel will kick, if not find a way to murder your ass if she finds out," Katherine warned.

"Don't worry. My mouth is staying shut," Damon said, heading back to the other room.

Damon and Katherine returned to the other room.

Luka looked pissed off which Stefan did not seem to be impressed with. Caroline and the others looked shocked, and Elena was just looking at Bonnie with a look that was a combination of sadness, astonishment, horror and appreciation at what her friend had been willing to do to get stronger, to do what it took to keep Elena and others safe.

"Don't ever put your life at risk for me, Bonnie Bennett. I want you alive and well and with me, even if I'm only here for a little while. And you know that Caroline is thinking the exact same thing right now," Elena said.

Bonnie looked at her two best friends, one of them with her eyes on her and the other, struggling to meet her eyes.

Elena squeezed Bonnie's hand ressuringly, and Bonnie felt a small rush of relief course through herself.

"You're a psycho, B," Caroline muttered, biting on her lip. Bonnie had just told them what she had been doing with Damon and her magic and why she wanted to get stronger, all without going into the big details, just telling them that there was a guarantee that Elena's life was in danger and that Bonnie suspected Caroline's was as well. Caroline figured that Bonnie was referring to the sacrifice ritual thing that had to do with Klaus. Either way, whatever it was that Bonnie was actually talking about, Caroline's life was a contributing factor to Bonnie risking her own life, and Caroline hated the thought of anything happening to Bonnie because of her.

"Love you," Bonnie said, sticking out her tongue.

"Shut up," Caroline said, wiping away the tear that escaped from her eyes.

"That means 'I love you, too. And don't you dare ever risk your life in any way, shape or form for me'," Elena said to Bonnie, smiling.

Bonnie rolled her eyes, but she smiled, resting her head on Elena's shoulder.

"Scoot over," Caroline ordered Elena and Bonnie. "I wanna lie down."

"And here I was thinking it was _my _initials that were BB," Bonnie said, smirking.

"What the hell is that supposed to mean?" Caroline asked, putting her head in Elena's lap.

"You sound like a Bossy Bitch," Bonnie teased.

Elena chuckled, and Caroline reached backward and smacked Bonnie's leg.

Bonnie let her friend hit her and also gladly let her friend then take hold of her had and grip it in her own. "Love you too," Caroline said quietly.

Elena took a deep breath and looked at her two best friends. She leaned against Bonnie, whose head was resting on her shoulder, and she played around with Caroline's hair.

Elena's heart broke when she looked across the room at Stefan, the pain still on his face. She loved him so much and she didn't know what to do. She didn't think she could ever make things better and that was killing her inside. She loved him. She would always love him and the possibility that he might never feel the same way again was absolutely devastating. Thinking about it, made her want to cry all over again, but she had Bonnie and Caroline. As long as she still had Bonnie and Caroline she would make it somehow and she'd try to pull herself together. She would try to do whatever she could to fix things with Stefan somehow, because she could not give up on the thought of them together again someday. Stefan was the guy for her, plain and simple. She screwed up and just lost Stefan, but she still had her best friends and that meant a whole lot. As long as she had those girls, the world would keep turning. As long as Elena still had Bonnie and Caroline Elena would find a way to deal with all the crap that was going on in her life.


	60. Chapter 60

**o-0-o-0-o Thanks so much to****Marie, celia, iwantbirthdaycake, David Fishwick, Stelena lover, Anna-Lisa, Raya, F girl for reviewing chapter 59.****I love hearing what everyone has to say. Okay, so once again SORRY, SORRY, SORRY for how long it has taken to update. School just kept getting more and more hectic. This chapter isn't extremely long but it flowed out of my brain really smoothly and I feel like it's not TOO short. I have some good news. I'm doing final essays and papers for the next 13 days, but then I will be free of school for a little bit. I will have chapter 61 up no later than 2 weeks from today and the update after that will come a lot quicker : ) So here is chapter 60. I hope you'll all enjoy it. Please take a few seconds or a minute or two and leave me a review to let me know what you think. Reviews always motivate me o-0-o-0-o**

"It's been five minutes. Can we just get started?" Alaric said, uncomfortably. He was feeling less and less happy by the minute thinking about seeing Isobel again.

"I'm with Ric. Let's get started, and you can just fill in Isobel later after me and Ric get the hell out of here," Damon chimed in.

Katherine smirked, but kept her mouth shut.

"I feel bad for Ric, but I'm kinda hoping that Isobel comes in and kicks Damon's ass," Caroline whispered to Bonnie, laughing. "I don't want her to find out what happened with him and Elena, but I'd just like to see something happen where Damon gets his ass kicked a bit."

"You're horrible," Bonnie whispered back, laughing too.

"She's here," Elena said, looking back at the rest of the group.

Elena was waiting by the door. She was kind of nervous about Isobel being in the know- nervous that it was likely that she was going to be spending a considerable amount of time with her now. More time with her could be a good thing, but it could also be bad.

"There you go. Now you two can shut up," Katherine told Alaric and Damon.

"What the hell, Katherine?" Elena said, sounding angry.

"What the hell _what?_" Katherine said, snapping back.

Stefan walked over to the door to see what Elena was getting upset over.

"Why the hell did you tell her to bring John with her?" Elena said, moving away from the door as Isobel and John got closer.

"Are you friggin' kidding? I didn't tell her to bring John. I can't stand your idiot father," Katherine said, moving closer to the door.

"I don't want him involved in this," Elena whispered, rubbing her temples.

"I don't want to see that loser's face, so I don't want him involved either," Katherine said, annoyed.

"I don't particularly like the guy either, Katherine," Stefan sighed. "But let's just suck it up. He's her father. He's gonna want to protect Elena. Extra help is always good."

Katherine rolled her eyes.

"Stefan, please, I don't want him here," Elena said quietly and desperately, putting her hand on his arm. "I don't want him involved in this stuff, especially now-"

Stefan looked down at her hand on his arm. There was a feeling of wanting to shake it off of him, but still the stronger feeling was to just take her hand and hold it instead. Even now, all he wanted to do was wipe the look of worry and stress off her face. He did not want to see her unhappy, even though he himself was miserable. Stefan didn't know how he was going to make it through the next little while. He couldn't keep going with all the emotions that were swirling inside.

He didn't want to look at her, but he couldn't keep his eyes off of her, either, not when she was looking so worried.

"I know you guys are just starting to bond again and you're worried that all of this stuff is going to ruin that or get in the way of it because if he's worried about your life he's going to stress, and that's all he's going to think about, and he's going to forget that he's sick and he might make himself even more sick. I know you're worried that he's only going to care about keeping you safe and then whatever time you have with him is always going to be about that rather than just spending time together," Stefan said.

"Exactly," Elena said, nodding.

"But you're just assuming. You don't know for sure that he's going to react like that. You don't know for sure that it's gonna turn out negatively. This might turn out to be good for you two."

"Stefan-" Elena started.

"This is what we're gonna do. John and Isobel are gonna come in here and they're gonna hear the whole story on what's going on. We'll get them in on whatever we decide to plan and you're gonna let this play out for at least a couple days. You can see what it's like to be around him in this situation, and if after at least a couple days- if you're really not happy with the way things are between you and him, I promise you that I'll pull off his ring myself and I'll put him in our cellar downstairs and wait until the vervain is out of his system and I'll compel him to forget whatever he hears here today. Okay?" Stefan said softly, looking straight in her eyes, those eyes that could heal him and hurt him- right now, though, those eyes only hurt him.

He looked into them and at her, knowing that she wasn't his anymore and it killed him inside. She fell for someone else, gave herself to someone else- Damon.

How do you deal with a love that won't go away, even when the one you love doesn't love you back anymore? How do you deal with a love that won't go away when that love is mixed with anger and betrayal? How do you let someone go when you want to hold them close to you and not let them go? How do you deal with feelings of wanting to hold her close and never letting her go, and wanting to push her as far away from you as possible at the same time?

Elena looked up at him and nodded her head. "Okay," she said. "Thank you," she told him, hugging him without thinking.

Stefan tensed and Elena felt it, and that brought her back to reality- brought her back to what happened today- brought her back to what Stefan walked in on. And she suddenly felt unbelievably selfish for putting her hands on him in any way, in seeking comfort from him in any way. She had no right to put one finger on him and expect any gesture of kindness or caring.

She had no right to expect any comfort, but she felt it when Stefan hugged her back. When she felt his arms go around her, she couldn't help herself, she pulled him even closer to her. She pulled him closer and closed her eyes, praying that this day hadn't actually happened, praying that this wouldn't be the last time that she would feel his arms around her, praying that this wouldn't be the last time she was allowed to put hers around him.

Even though her eyes were closed, they managed to start watering.

She let go of Stefan when she started to feel him pull away a bit.

She tried to get a look at his face, but he was determined to not let that happen.

Bonnie watched the situation from across the room and she saw Stefan's face- the guy looked broken and hurt and confused. He probably wished he could just leave the house right now.

"Stefan, I just remembered- you're supposed to meet with that man today. Remember, we were talking to him last week," Bonnie said, trying to invent some excuse so that Stefan could leave. "I guess we both forgot. You go without me, you can just tell me what he says, and I'll be fine here. I can tell everyone what's up on my own."

Stefan sent Bonnie a look of sad thanks.

"I can't believe I forgot," Stefan said tiredly. "I'll go meet him. I don't think it should take too long."

Katherine looked from Bonnie to Stefan and knew instantly that there was no man to go see. Bonnie was just trying to give Stefan an easy way to get out of the house since that hug from Elena just completely threw him off.

Katherine smiled a bit. Bonnie was Elena's best friend and that's where her first loyalty was always going to lie, but she genuinely cared about Stefan too, and she didn't like to see him in pain, that was obvious from this little scene to Katherine. The witch might be annoying and judgey on occasion, but Bonnie definitely just became her favourite Bennett aside from Emily.

She wanted to follow Stefan, but she knew that wasn't a good idea. He would want to be alone, and Katherine would probably be needed here to play referee for Damon and Isobel.

She'd find a way to make Stefan smile later, after everyone was gone, but for right now he just clearly needed to get out of the house. There was a shine in his eye that Katherine could see. He was trying hard not to look at anyone, especially Elena, even though a minute ago he was staring straight into her eyes.

_If you'd give me another chance, I swear I'd never hurt you like she did today. If you'd give me another chance I could make you happy, I could make you forget the pain that loving her is causing you. _

Katherine shook her head, it wasn't time for thinking about that. She shouldn't be thinking about that right now. She needed to focus on Klaus and Elijah, but when Stefan was in the room, it was kind of impossible to entirely focus on something else.

Stefan gave Elena's hand a squeeze before hurrying out the door. He hoped that it had been a comforting gesture in his hurry to get out of the house.

She hugged him and he felt like he was sinking. He wanted to cry. He wanted to scream. He wanted to whisper words to her that would calm her and assure her that everything would be fine. He wanted to keep her close to him forever. He wanted to feel her touch. He wanted her to never touch him again.

Elena took a deep breath and wiped her eyes. Stefan walked out the door just as Isobel and John got there. John walked right in while Isobel found that she couldn't.

"What the hell?" she muttered.

"You have to be invited," Katherine said.

"Come in," Elena sighed.

"They gave you their house?" John said, his jaw dropping slightly.

Elena just nodded. She wanted this day to be over so badly.

"What's going on here?" Isobel asked. "Why did Broody Salvatore just walk out of here looking like his world just ended? And what the hell did you do, Damon? You look guilty of something," Isobel said with a raised eyebrow.

"Nothing's going on," Katherine said, playing everything cool.

Isobel wasn't buying it, though.

She looked from Damon to Elena, who was trying to avoid eye-contact with her.

Damon looking guilty. Elena avoiding eye-contact. Stefan looking like the world just ended.

Oh hell no! Isobel's hands suddenly clenched into fists. Damon slept with Elena. The creepy little shit just slept with her kid. Yep, that's what happened. He slept with her and now he slept with her kid. The man-whore just slept with her kid! That dirty Petrova-obsessed bastard just had sex with her kid.

Katherine saw Isobel's fists clench, and she knew Isobel figured things out on her own.

"You disgusting asshole!" Isobel spat, looking at Damon.

"Oh fuck," Damon muttered. _This is gonna be just lovely._

Isobel vamped out, and lunged at Damon.


	61. Chapter 61

**o-0-o-0-o Thanks to David Fishwick, celia, Anna-Lisa, Tina and Marie for reviewing chapter 60. 61 is here. Hope you'll enjoy it. Leave me a review and let me know what you think. Reviews motivate me to write faster and update sooner. Hope everyone has/had a happy holiday o-0-o-0-o**

Isobel charged at Damon, knocking him into the far wall and she began pounding away at him.

Damon made a move to defend himself and fight off Isobel but Katherine yelled "Damon, don`t touch her or so help me God I`ll kick your ass."

Katherine heard Isobel laugh and then she snapped at her descendant also. "And you, Isobel, get the hell off of him right now."

"Get her the fuck away from me or else Elena's gonna be the last relative you have left, Katherine," Damon muttered through clenched teeth as Isobel continued her assault.

John was asking Elena what was going on- why Isobel was so mad, but Elena wasn`t hearing anything. She couldn`t speak. She felt horrible. Isobel obviously figured out what happened and was freaking out on Damon. Damon didn`t deserve this. She wanted to yell at Isobel to stop but she just couldn`t even manage to do that. It was like she was completely frozen, body and voice.

Caroline, Alaric, Luka and Tyler were all a little bit amused by Damon and Isobel and Bonnie wasn't quite sure what to do. It was a little funny to watch, she wouldn't lie, but she also felt bad for Damon because even though the situation was weird, he didn't deserve this. If it was Stefan, Bonnie would say that Damon deserved it because in a way, he betrayed his brother, but this wasn't Stefan. Isobel had a right to be grossed out and angry, but this reaction was too much.

Isobel wasn`t listening and Katherine knew that Damon was about to completely flip out which would not bode well at all for Isobel. For the third time that day Katherine found herself breaking up a fight.

Katherine grabbed Isobel and dragged her away from Damon and started yelling at her in a language no one understood.

Isobel started to say something back to Katherine, but Katherine wasn`t having any of it and switched back to English. "You calm the hell down or you get the hell out, and I don`t tell you all of the details as to what the hell is really going on. Got it? You stay away from Damon. Whether you like him or not, he's here because he wants to help me protect your kid."

"We don't need some psycho perv vampire and vampire queen whore to protect our kid," John said, turning his gaze to Katherine. Her presence made him crazy. He hated her.

"Watch it, John," Katherine said, her gaze going down to his fingers, the fingers she chopped off.

John saw her looking at his hand and saw her smirk. _Bitch!_

"What, you don't like to hear the truth- that you're a whore? Your mother was probably a whore too, I'm guessing your daughter was the same."

There was no doubt in Damon's mind that John was going to get his ass handed to him by Katherine, but he was a little bit surprised when Isobel turned her attention from Damon to John and smashed her fist into John's face.

Elena finally found her voice and told John to shut the hell up, disgust at her father heard in her words.

Before anyone had the chance to blink after that, Isobel got knocked to the side as Katherine made a grab for John.

Katherine grabbed him by the throat and squeezed hard, before throwing him across the room and straight into the wall.

John fell to the floor with a thump. He was bleeding from his forehead and lip.

Katherine sauntered over and put her boot over John's throat. "Do not _ ever _mention my kid or my mother. They're too good to ever be spoken of from your stupid, worthless, pathetic lips. You have something to say to me, go ahead. But don't ever speak a bad word about my mother or daughter, because there was nothing ever anything but good about them. Don't forget that your precious little daughter here and her mother wouldn't even _exist_ without my mother, me and my kid. This is your last warning John. One more wrong move with me and you're dead. That's not a threat, that's a promise that I want everyone in this room to take note of. Keep him on good behaviour or I promise I will tear his throat out," Katherine said with a scary sort of calm.

"You'd do that? You'd do that to last family members you have left? You'd take me away from them?" John said, fighting to sit up.

Katherine pushed her boot down into his throat one more time before finally moving away from him.

"You were _already_ supposed to be dead, you little bastard. Isobel and Elena are the only reason you're alive right now. I already did them the favour because Isobel pulled the family card. She _begged_ me not to kill you after I found out that you tried to kill Stefan and Damon. I spared your life once. Today will be the last time. The next time you piss me off I'm not just going to chop off some fingers or throw you around like a rag doll. Next time you die. Got it?" Katherine said.

John glared at her, but finally nodded his head.

"Isobel, Elena, why don't you go help clean him up. He's all bloody and I'm kinda hungry. I don't think you want me to make dear old John my snack," Katherine said, smirking.

Isobel did not look too happy with John, but she and Elena quickly got him out of the room.

Katherine plopped down onto the couch and put her feet up. She raised her eyebrow when she saw that virtually all eyes were on her. "You wanna say something?" she asked.

Everyone shook their heads. "Good," she said, rolling back her eyes.

Damon grinned at her, amused.

"What?" she asked him.

"I think I'm glad you're here. That was pretty awesome," he said.

Katherine rolled her eyes again, but had to fight not to grin back. "The bitch is in the building," was all she said.

o-o-o-o-o-o-o

"So that's why she chopped off your fingers, then- for Stefan and Damon. You really should use that thing in your head called a brain," Elena said to John as she wiped away the blood from his head.

"And what about your brain, Elena?" Isobel asked, turning her gaze to her daughter. "Were you using it to think with today? I sure as hell don't think so."

Elena knew what she was talking about and she absolutely did not want to talk about her drunken mistake of sleeping with Damon.

"That's none of your business, so please drop it. And stay away from Damon. He's not a villain in some story here. Just leave him the hell alone," Elena told her mother.

"What the hell happened with Damon?" John asked, still trying to figure that out.

"None of your business," Elena told him.

"Just keep your mouth shut, John," Isobel said, getting rid of the blood on his mouth.

"Why the hell are you pissed of with me?" he asked her. "I should be mad at you. I'm the one who got your fist in my face."

"You got my fist in your face because that's the very least you deserved for your stupid comments. You don't have to like Katherine, but you're damn sure not going to get away with disrespecting her and her family like that in front of me. She's my family. They were my family too, even though I never knew them. Your daughter and I wouldn't exist without her- maybe you should keep that in mind the next time you want to open your stupid mouth," Isobel said, throwing the bloodied cloth into the trash, and walking out of the room.

"You're mad at me, too," John said to Elena.

"Yeah. You were way out of line."

"You don't even like her. She doesn't like you, and you're mad because of what I said," John said as if Elena was crazy.

"We might not necessarily like each other that much, but you know what- there's a bond between me and her and it's blood, and that means something whether we like it or not. Stefan may be between me and her, but she wants to protect me, and that means something to me. And you had no right to mention her daughter or her mother. That was pretty disgusting and low of you. Whether you like it or not, she's right- I wouldn't be here without her. I can feel whatever I want about her. If I hate her, that's one thing, but you as my father should do a better job around her because she's here to protect me. Remember, I don't like the asshole version of you. Do me a favour and don't piss her off and get yourself killed because you can't stop being a jackass, I'm supposed to be spending time with you, remember? We're supposed to be bonding, or whatever. That's what you wanted, right?"

"Yes," John sighed.

"Then just stop being a jerk. Forget that you don't like her, and Damon and Stefan and just act like a damn father and not some loser who doesn't know how to keep his mouth shut. What I need from you is to not cause trouble. Too much bad crap has happened and I don't have it in me to play referee between you and my best chance at survival. I actually want to spend some good, happy time with you while I've still got you here- focus on that," Elena said, throwing her cloth into the garbage. "Come on, let's go hear what Bonnie has to say."

John sighed and followed Elena out of the room.

o-o-o-o-o-o-o

"I wish we would have hooked up that night. I _so _wish we would have," Stefan said, taking a seat on the ground. "I already loved you- you were my best friend, if we would have hooked up that night it wouldn't have just been a one-time thing and I know I would have fallen _in _love with you eventually if we went that route. If I had fallen for you, I would have just been able to save Elena from drowning that day and I could have left Mystic Falls after that. If I was in love with you, the thought that Katherine might still be around wouldn't have mattered, I think I might have been able to let it go. I think I might have been able to leave Mystic Falls after saving Elena, even wondering if it was Katherine. As long as she was safe, I think I could have left. But you and I never did go that route. I never did fall in love with another woman after Katherine, not until Elena... You can't imagine what it was like for me that day, Lexi. I heard the car crash and then fall into the water and I rushed to try to help them. And then I saw Elena. I swear to God, I thought it was Katherine. It was crazy. I thought it was her, but I didn't understand how it could have been. And then I just had to know everything I could know about her. I needed to know if it was really Katherine, but I learned that it wasn't, and I didn't understand how it was possible to look exactly like someone else without being their twin.

"She wasn't Katherine. There was this innocence and sweetness and quiet strength that was different than Katherine. I told myself to leave town, but I couldn't. I had to get to know the girl. And I did, and I fell for her- _so _hard. And I fell for _her _Lexi. I fell for _Elena_. It wasn't about Katherine. I've always loved Elena for _Elena. _Yeah, the reason I was drawn to her was because I had to know if it was Katherine or not, but Elena herself, that's what made me fall in love with her. And it's crazy, because that love is so big, so intense. And when I loved Katherine, it was so big and so intense, too. When I fall for a girl, I fall hard. When I lost Katherine, I just spiralled out of control. I was so angry and I missed her so much, which is something I haven't really admitted before very recently... Elena broke up with me last week- I feel so lost, Lexi. Everything feels wrong without her. But I was gonna deal somehow because I believed that _at least_ she still loved me. I believed that after some time had passed, maybe she would change her mind and understand how much I love her, that she'd realize she never should have ended things. That didn't happen, though. I came home today and I found her in bed with Damon. I didn't think anything could feel worse than when she broke up with me, but oh God, what I saw today, that was worse.

"She loves him and she lied to me. She said she didn't love him, but she lied. She's only trying to smooth things over. They had sex in _my _bed. She breaks up with me and tells me she's only ever loved me and not Damon, and she tells me that she's not gonna go running to him, but what did she do one week later? She ran to him and she slept with him. And I'm here trying to figure out what the hell is going on with me. I want to scream at her, and I don't want her anywhere near me, but then I also just want to pull her to me and never let her go... She loves him, right? Could she hurt me like this if she didn't love him? When I caught them, she was crying and she kept telling me that she didn't love him and she kept apologizing. I know she's sorry, but I just think it's because she doesn't want me to hate her, but I can't hate her anyway, even if I try. How do I get over her? Tell me what to do? I miss you so much, Lexi. I wish you were here. I could really use my best friend right now. Even when everything around here is good, I still miss you. I really just wish you were still here," Stefan said, putting his head in his hands.

o-o-o-o-o-o-o

Isobel's eyes never left Damon. She had literally been glaring at him for the past twenty minutes, while Bonnie had been explaining the situation with Klaus and Elijah.

Alaric sighed and interrupted Bonnie. "Bonnie, can we take a couple minute break?"

"Okay, sure," the witch said, shrugging.

Alaric took a deep breath and turned to Isobel. "I need to talk to you."

Isobel looked a little surprised, Alaric hadn't said one word to her until now.

"Come on," he said, getting up.

Isobel got up and followed him into a different room.

"What do you need to say, Ric?" Isobel asked.

"Stop giving Damon the death glare. Just get over it. Yeah, he slept with your kid, and yes, I think it's weird as hell. And I'm certainly not telling you to be happy about it, or to like Damon. You can feel however you want, but stop sitting there glaring at him like you're thinking about ways to kill him... I don't know you anymore. I like to think that the woman I was married to is still _somewhere _ there inside of you. I like to think that the woman who could make me laugh when I was feeling miserable- the woman I loved so much- is still there in you, even though it doesn't seem like she is, but even if she's not, there's parts of her- of the _you _I used to know in your daughter. She reminds me of you sometimes- her stubbornness, her strength. Anyway, what I'm trying to tell you is that I care about Elena and I don't want anything bad to happen to her, and I try to do my best to look out for her and as someone who really does want to keep her safe I can tell you that Damon is no harm to her. I don't want him with her at all, but he'd never hurt her. He's her friend. He loves her. I think he needs to get over that, but he would not hurt her, and he really does want to keep her safe. Hate him if you want, but suck it up and shove it aside because you're gonna be working with us now, and he's always around. Just focus on the fact that he's one of the people who is trying to protect your daughter. We don't need to be worrying about fights breaking out at every turn because trust me, there's already more than enough drama where this group of people is concerned. Elena doesn't need you to be here being furious, she's lost a lot. She's got a lot of hurt inside. What she could use from you is your presence, but not if you're just gonna waltz around angry about everything... If you ever really loved me, can you just come back and listen to what's going on, and forget about Damon's stupidity? I don't know if the woman I loved- the woman who loved me- is still there in you, but I _do _know that the woman who loves her daughter is, so if you won't come back in there and act like an adult for me, please at least do it for Elena because I guarantee that she doesn't want you here when you're angry, not even if you're trying to protect her" Alaric said, looking Isobel in the eye.

She didn't answer him, she only looked back at him for a moment.

Alaric knew that he wasn't going to get an actual response out of her, so he turned and went back to the rest of the group in the other room, leaving Isobel standing.

"You're always with me. Part of me is gonna love you forever," Isobel whispered after she saw him leave.

She shook her head and got herself together. Alaric was right, this wasn't the time to be focusing any of her energy on Damon. That loser was not important, she'd kick his ass another day. The only thing that was truly important to Isobel right now was keeping Elena safe.

As Isobel headed back to join the rest of the group, Stefan walked back into the house, too.

"Hi," Isobel said, awkwardly.

"Hi," he said back, just as awkwardly.

"I feel the need to say this to you right now. Don't read into it, don't take this is a sign that I like you or approve of you with my daughter, because I don't- but I'm sorry for whatever happened here today. If I'm stuck with a choice for you or Damon for my kid- I definitely pick you."

Stefan didn't answer her because he hadn't expected to be having _this_ conversation with Isobel, let alone speaking to her at all.

"Damon is the Petrova women's mistake and stupidity, and I include Elena with me and Katherine there. We've never loved him, he just seems to be there when we need something. We don't actually fall for the bad boys. Our hearts always belong to the good guys, even if we screw up along the way."


	62. Chapter 62

**o-0-o-0-o Thanks so much to celia, Raya, iwantbirthdaycake, MusicFlowsWithin, laugh4life, David Fishwick and Marie for reviewing. Here's the new chapter. Hope you'll enjoy it. Leave me a review and let me know what you think. Reviews make me happy and they make me write faster as this chapter proved for me. I thought it would take me a bit longer than this to update, but it's out sooner than I thought so yay! o-0-o-0-o**

As soon as those words to Stefan left her lips Isobel continued on her way back into the room with the others. Stefan stayed where he stood for a moment, taking the woman's words in, and for some reason- maybe it was because _Isobel _of all people had said them- they had a bit of an affect on him.

"Come on, love. You can't leave me alone with that bunch of weirdos for much longer," Katherine said with a small smile, popping up in front of Stefan.

Stefan rolled his eyes but grinned a bit. "I'm coming," he said.

Katherine stopped him before they went back to join Elena, Bonnie, Caroline, Damon, Tyler, Luka, Alaric, Isobel and John.

"Are you okay?" she asked him seriously.

"Don't worry about me, Katherine. I'm fine," he said.

"No you're not," she sighed.

Stefan just shrugged. He didn't have the energy for a conversation about how messed up his feelings were. "Doesn't matter," he said. "There are more important things to focus on. We'd better get back in there, I'm sure the group misses you already," Stefan said, joking.

Katherine snorted. "Oh yeah, I'm sure they miss me _tons."_

"Anything interesting happen while I was gone?" Stefan asked her.

_Yeah, more than one thing, but I'm thinking I should keep my mouth shut about Isobel attacking Damon because he screwed Elena. Don't think you really want to be reminded about that._

"I kicked John's ass and warned him that he's dead next time he pisses me off," she said.

Stefan raised an eyebrow.

Katherine only smirked before she walked back into the living room.

Stefan followed her into the living room and he found that pretty much all eyes were resting on him.

"I know Stefan's hot and all, but come on people, let's focus here. Klaus and Elijah are coming to kill us all, remember?" Caroline said, bringing everyone's attention back to Bonnie.

Stefan shot her a grateful smile and Caroline sent him a wink.

"So, Bonnie, you were just about tell us about the thing that can kill Original vampires," John said, sounding impatient.

"Right. White-ash wood can kill Originals and we have a white-ash tree here in Mystic Falls. Stefan and I have already been there and took some wood, but we've had to be very careful to make sure the scene looks untouched. I've already turned a bunch of the wood into stakes, so we already have a small supply, but we'll be getting more soon. We'll distribute stakes to everyone here-"

"Tell me where this white-ash tree is and I'll go make myself some stakes and find this Elijah bastard the second he gets back and kill him myself" John interrupted, furious with the idea that someone had plans on killing his daughter.

"No way," Stefan, Bonnie, Katherine, Caroline, Damon and Alaric all said at the same time.

Luka and Tyler tried not to laugh at the majority's insistence that John not get anywhere near the white-ash tree.

"Why?" John asked angrily.

"No offence, John, but you seem to think about things even less than Damon does before doing them, and that's really not a good thing. Forget about getting near the tree. You'll be armed with what we need when the time comes. You get to be in on the plan and you can contribute opinions and of course help protect Elena, but you're not the boss here. That's not how it's going to work. Just focus on spending time with Elena and listen in on the plan talk, but you don't just get to come in here and demand things and run off half-cocked putting everyone here, including your daughter, in jeopardy. Work _with _us, don't try to run off on your own. There's no one in this room who wants anything bad to happen to Elena. We won't let anything happen to her. I promise. Work with us. Don't think about running off on your own," Caroline said, speaking up.

"We've always got Elena's back," Bonnie said, joining Caroline. "Maybe you don't know everyone in this room and you probably don't trust them all, but trust me and Caroline. You've known us since we were babies. You saw Elena and us grow up together. You know how close we are. We're not gonna do anything that's going to put her at risk. We take care of each other. We always have, you know that."

It seemed like John was just destined to be a jerk today because he couldn't keep his mouth shut. When he was worried, it was like nothing else mattered, and even if he wasn't intending to be a jerk, that's what would end up happening.

"Watch it girls. Do not give me attitude. You're just a couple of teenagers. Don't tell me that you're better to protect my daughter than I am, and don't imply that you've taken better care of her than Isobel and I have. You're only friends, we're family."

"Are you fucking stupid?" Damon said, unable to keep his own mouth shut. "Barbie and Judgey were not giving you attitude. They were more polite than you deserve, dumbass."

"Are you kidding me, John?" Elena asked him, just shaking her head. "Bonnie and Caroline are not trying to be rude. They weren't implying anything, but let's be honest here. They _are _better suited to protect me than you, and they _most definitely _have taken better care of me than you and Isobel ever have," Elena said, angrily. John did not get to say stuff like that.

"Who was it who made me stop crying when you came back all mean and jerk-like when I was a kid, huh John? Do you remember that day you came back to town with your new stupid attitude and broke my little heart? Who promised me that they'd love me forever? That wasn't you or Isobel. That was Caroline and Bonnie. Who was it who prevented the dirt-bag pervert who didn't comprehend that no means no from doing God knows what to me in the freakin' back alley after I had too much to drink? That wasn't you or Isobel. That was Bonnie and Caroline.

"Who was it who comforted me after the people I thought were my parents died? It wasn't you or Isobel. It was Caroline and Bonnie. So if anyone shouldn't be giving people attitude- that would be you. And don't ever say that Bonnie and Caroline are _ just _my friends. They've been more like family to me than either of you ever has. They _are _ family to me. And I want to make something clear to you. For some reason I actually want you and Isobel in my life. I've got mommy and daddy issues. But as much as I want you in my life, if I ever had to choose between you and Bonnie and Caroline, I wouldn't be choosing you. They've got me through the hardest things in my life, and as bad as things get, as long as I've still got them, I'll be okay," Elena said, taking a deep breath.

Bonnie and Caroline gave Elena a smile.

John was going to speak, but Isobel cut him off. "John, for once in your life, please just keep your mouth shut."

She didn't like hearing what Elena just said, but it was true, those girls had been there for Elena when her and John were not around.

Elena turned to Stefan. "Stefan, please, I know you said we should wait a couple days, but-"

"It's okay, I think he's going to end up being more headache than help," Stefan said shrugging. "Are you sure that this is what you want, Elena?"

Elena nodded. "I can't deal with him like this. I don't want my time with him to just be full of stress and anger."

"Okay," Stefan told her.

"What are you two talking about?" John asked, sounding annoyed.

Stefan didn't answer him, he just grabbed his hand and pulled off his ring.

"What the hell?" John hissed.

"Let's go," Stefan said, taking hold of his shoulder.

"Let me go," John said icily.

"Are you going to follow me on your own?" Stefan asked, rolling his eyes.

"Where?"

"Down to our little basement cellar," Stefan said.

"Absolutely not," John told him.

"Then I'm not letting you go," Stefan said, pushing John forward, leading him to the basement.

"You're locking him up?" Isobel asked Elena, shocked.

"I didn't want him in on this in the first place. I knew he would get like this- act like a jerk because he's worried about me. I don't want whatever time I have with him to be like that. We'll keep him there til the vervain gets out of his system and then Stefan can compel him to forget about all this stuff," Elena said, turning to her mother. "I want my time with him to be free of this worry and stress."

"You're not gonna lose him. You've still got plenty of time with him, Elena," Isobel said, hating this topic.

"He's dying and you know it. We're going to lose him, and you need to accept that. Staying in denial isn't going to do any of us any good, Isobel. Stop trying to get my hopes up, and focus on coming to terms with stuff yourself. It's obvious that it hurts you to see what's happening to him and it's not just because you don't want me to be sad and because he won't be able to be here for me. You love him, too," Elena said, feeling really frustrated.

"Loved, Elena. Past tense. We were two stupid teenagers, that's all over now has been for a long time. Now drop this. Change the subject," Isobel said, trying to keep calm.

"And people wonder where I get my stubbornness from," Elena muttered.

It didn't happen, but Isobel almost grinned. Elena did get her stubbornness from her.

It wasn't long before Stefan was back upstairs. "Your father absolutely hates my guts right now. I didn't take him for much of a swearing man, but was I wrong. That guy apparently has a really foul mouth," Stefan said to Elena.

Elena cringed a little, but Stefan chuckled. "It was kinda funny actually. You should probably go down and see him later."

"Thanks Stefan," Elena said, hoping he knew she really meant it.

He gave her a nod and took a seat. He didn't know why, but he just could not say "you're welcome."

"I still have a bunch of questions for you," Caroline said, turning to Katherine.

"Oh for God's sake, hurry up and spit it out so you can stop looking at me," Katherine said, frowning.

"If you're supposed to be one of the good guys and on our team what the hell was up with you getting Jenna to try to kill herself?"

"Are you really as stupid as you look?" Katherine asked meanly. "If I actually wanted Jenna dead, she would have been dead, idiot. I never told her to kill herself, my instructions were very precise. I knew exactly what I was doing. The woman's fine now isn't she," Katherine said, turning her glance to Alaric, seeing his fists start to clench at the mention of Jenna being hurt. "What my motivations were is none of your business. And don't think that just because we're working together that I'm supposed to be some saint. I don't give a shit about half of you in this house."

"Yeah, yeah, fine. You don't care about me, Tyler, Alaric, John and Luka, but what about Bonnie? Emily was your friend apparently-"

"What the hell is your point, Barbie?" Katherine said impatiently.

"Bonnie's related to Emily so what the hell were you doing trying to strangle her that day at Tyler's?" Caroline questioned. She really, really, really did not like Katherine.

Katherine laughed. "That was a warning to stay out of my way. If I wanted her dead she would have been dead, honey. There was no actual intention to kill her. Besides, witchy tried to do her little brain aneurism trick on me first. Me and your witchy friend are just fine, Blondie."

"What about Elena, huh?" Caroline said, questioning again.

"Caroline, come on," Stefan sighed. "Just drop it, please. She's on our side. That's what's important. You have every reason not to like Katherine and _no one_ can blame you for it, but right now we don't need to be bringing up every single thing that's happened before. Let's focus on now and what's to come. Trust me, trying to annoy her isn't actually going to make you feel any better."

Caroline rolled her eyes, but she mumbled "Fine."

Katherine smirked and Stefan noticed. "Don't you start, either. There's nothing to smirk about. This is serious stuff."

"Lighten up, love. Don't be so serious," Katherine said, still smiling.

"God help me," Stefan muttered, rubbing his temples.

No one noticed, but Elena clenched her fist for a second when she heard Katherine call Stefan 'love.' She didn't like hearing it and she really didn't like the little grin Katherine had sent to her right after she said it.

"Listen up people, I'm going to say this one time and one time only. You want to hear me say it out loud so here it is. I got Barbie turned into a vampire on purpose. I killed her when I knew she had Damon's blood in her system. I got Lockwood turned into a werewolf when I made sure that he triggered his family curse. Yeah, I ruined your lives- get over it. I wanted the moonstone, too. You were pieces involved in breaking the curse. I had a plan since before I got back to this stupid town.

"I knew there was white-ash wood in Mystic Falls and I came here to find it. I planned on having a big stock of it, then I was going to lure Klaus and Elijah here by telling them that I had all of the elements needed to break the sun/moon curse: vampire, werewolf, witch, the moonstone and the other doppelganger on the pretence that I would hand over all they needed to break the curse in exchange for their word that they would stop looking for me and let me live out the rest of my life without looking over my shoulder worrying that they were still hunting me. And then when they would show up I would kill their pathetic asses with stakes made from white-ash wood and none of you losers would have ever actually been sacrificed. The end," Katherine said, stressing the last two words.

"Why me, though?" Caroline said, unable to keep from asking. "Why the hell did you do this to _me? _You couldn't have picked some other random person? You had to ruin _my _life? My chances at having a fam-"

Katherine cut her off, but she knew what Caroline was about to say, but she'd address the other part first.

"Why not you?" Katherine asked back. "You already had blood in your system and you were in a hospital, hospitals have plenty of ready sources of blood which would be perfect for when you were transitioning. Plus, Stefan and Damon had pissed me off. What happened to you was supposed to send the message to stay the hell out of my way, but that didn't go so well. It was better to have someone close to Elena anyway," Katherine said, before pausing for a second. "And you weren't ever going to get to have a family, Forbes, at least not in the way of having kids of your own. Your body was never going to give life to another," Katherine told her, with less venom in her voice than before.

"Excuse me?" Caroline said, wide-eyed.

"Go look into your hospital files for yourself. It's all there. I just compelled the doctors not to tell you. The car accident you were in messed some stuff up for you. You weren't gonna be able to have kids. _I _didn't take _that _away from you by getting you turned. Even if you were still human, you wouldn't have been able to give birth. That had nothing to do with me."

"Giving birth hurts like a bitch, trust me. You can adopt a kid just as easily without any of the pain," Isobel said, awkwardly, feeling bad for the girl a bit.

Elena and Bonnie felt horrible because they knew how much Caroline had wanted kids one day. It was sad to think that even if she had still been human that she wouldn't have been able to have what she wanted so much.

"Oh," was all Caroline could manage to get out of her mouth. Even if kids weren't in the cards because she was a vampire, it hurt like hell to think that she wouldn't have ever got the chance even if she was still a normal human.

Everyone's attention turned to Tyler when they heard glass shatter. He had slammed his fist down into the side table, and with his werewolf strength he easily shattered the glass. "Sorry. I'll buy you a new table." he mumbled to Stefan. "I gotta go," he said, suddenly, getting up and heading out the door.

"What was that about?" Luka asked. _Everyone has all these issues with this group. There's so much drama. I kinda feel bad._

"Fuck!" Caroline cursed, hurrying out after Tyler.

"What?" Isobel asked, wondering what was up also.

"Caroline was in the car with Tyler the night she got in the accident. Tyler was the one driving," Elena explained.

"And now Tyler is probably feeling like crap,' Bonnie sighed.

"That sucks," Luka commented.

"No we're gonna have to deal with another brooder who feels guilty about everything. Just lovely," Damon said.

"Don't be a jackass," Bonnie said, sending a glare Damon's way.

"Don't be mean. You're hurting my feelings, Judgey," Damon said, returning her glare with a grin.

Bonnie just shook her head.

Alaric and Isobel rolled their eyes.

"Do you guys ever have any days without drama?" Luka asked Bonnie, not unkindly and honestly curious.

"I'm sure there have been some, but I can't remember the last one," Bonnie said, letting out a laugh that had no happiness behind it.

"I have a feeling they're going to be out there for awhile," Isobel said, getting up. "Let's go see John for a bit," she said, looking at Elena.

"Okay," Elena said, following Isobel downstairs.

"I'm guessing we're pushing pause again," Katherine said to Bonnie.

"Apparently," Bonnie told her, getting up and walking over to the now broken side table.

"We have to get the rest of my stuff out of the tomb and get my other stuff from Bonnie's house," Katherine said, turning to Stefan.

"You know that there is no 'we' since you're not leaving this house and taking any chances of people finding out you're not in the tomb. So I'm assuming that was your way of saying 'Stefan and Bonnie, could you pretty, pretty, pretty please go get me my stuff?"

Luka went over to the table where Bonnie was and helped her to put it back together with magic.

"That was faster and easier. Two is always better than one, Bonnie. You don't have to be so stubborn and do everything yourself, especially when you're tired. You're not the only one with magic here" Luka said, bumping her lightly with his shoulder.

"Thanks for the help, but it's just a table, Luka,' Bonnie said, giving him a little smile. She could deal with Luka like this. She could deal with a friendly and chill Luka. All she wanted was for him not to bring up any sort of thing that would lead to talking about a chance at there being a 'Bonnie and Luka.'

She had felt something for him originally early on in knowing him, but she wasn't prepared to even think about finding out if those feelings would ever come back in the future.

"You wanna go get her stuff?" Stefan asked Bonnie.

"Yeah, we might as well get it over with now while we're taking another break. You'll need me to grab the stuff from the tomb since you can't go in there. The seal is back up again,"

Bonnie looked to Luka and he answered her before she could ask her question. "I'll be fine here, go ahead."

Bonnie was the only one of the group that Luka really knew, so she hadn't wanted t be rude and just leave him alone.

"Cool. We shouldn't be too long," she said, walking out the door with Stefan.

Luka, Katherine, Alaric and Damon sat in silence for a couple minutes.

Elena came back upstairs.

"That was short," Katherine said.

"He's not so happy with me," Elena responded. She looked around, wondering where Bonnie and Stefan went.

"Where'd Stefan and Bonnie go?' she asked.

"To get my stuff," Katherine said, leaning her head back against the couch and closing her eyes. "I don't think they'll take that long."

Damon and Elena had done a really good job at avoiding looking at each other after the whole bedroom disaster, but they both knew that they couldn't just keep avoiding what had happened. They finally made eye contact and Elena was the first to speak.

"Can we talk?" she asked, feeling pretty uncomfortable.

Damon sighed. "Sure," he told her, getting up. _Let's hear all about how sleeping with me was the biggest mistake of your life. _

Alaric's phone rang and he left the room to take the call. That left Luka and Katherine the only two remaining people in the living room.

Katherine had a talent for being able to make people feel awkward and uncomfortable and she decided to use her talent on Luka because she was starting to get bored.

"So, how long have you had a thing for Bonnie?" she asked with a grin.


	63. Chapter 63

**o-0-o-0-o Thanks to Stelena lover, laugh4life, MusicFlowsWithin, Hooked-On-TVD, David Fishwick and celia for the reviews. Here's the new chapter. It's been ready for you guys for almost 3 days since I had the time and motivation to update quickly but my internet was being stupid and not working. Anyways, the internet problem is over and the new chapter is here. Hope you'll enjoy it. Leave me a review and let me know what you think o-0-o-0-o**

The look on Luka's face made Katherine laugh.

Luka started to talk, but Katherine cut him off after the words "I don't-" left his mouth.

"Don't bother saying that you don't know what I'm talking about. I saw you looking at her. You've definitely got a thing for her. Personally, I think it's really obvious, but then again, I'm really observant, so maybe it was really only me who picked up on it."

Luka just looked at Katherine awkwardly.

"Come on little warlock, speak up. I'm bored, entertain me," Katherine said, very amused.

"It doesn't matter. She's not into me," he finally said.

"But you're hoping that changes."

Luka rolled his eyes.

"Wanna hear what I think?" Katherine asked.

"Sure," he said, sarcastically, perfectly aware that the vampire was making fun of him and was having fun making him feel uncomfortable. He also knew she would tell him her opinion whether he wanted it or not.

"She's never going to feel the same way about you. What you feel for her is always gonna be stronger than what she feels for you, but I don't think you're completely without hope," Katherine said, twirling a piece of her hair around her finger.

Luka raised an eyebrow. "You think I have a chance?" he asked pathetically.

"Don't get me wrong, you're not gonna end up with her. You're not going to end up being Bonnie's great love, that's gonna be someone else. I don't know who, but it won't be you. However, I do predict that at the very least, somewhere down the road you will get a kiss out of little Miss Bennett. You might even get the witch into bed, but I'm highly doubting that. You might have a little fling some time in the future, but Bonnie's never actually gonna fall in love with you," Katherine told him.

The warlock's face was full of embarrassment.

"Have you been sufficiently entertained?" Luka asked her sarcastically, after he composed himself again.

"I'm still bored, but that _was _kinda fun," Katherine said with a small grin, twirling her hair once again.

o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o

_She's going to tell you that she's not in love with you, and you're going to put that into your head. You're going to try something new- you're going to try to start getting over someone you love. You're gonna have a little bit of pride and try to get over someone who doesn't love you back, and you're finally really gonna listen to her this time. You're gonna listen to Katherine's words for once because let's be honest, this love for Elena isn't really doing you or her any good. _Damon's head was a place full of thoughts he didn't usually have, but he knew that he needed to try to change. He didn't really think it was going to work, but he would try, _ really _try to start to get over Elena.

It was completely crazy for him, because even he could admit, he was very intense with his love, his one hundred and fifty years of pining for Katherine proved that_. _Maybe Bonnie and Katherine's words finally broke through something in his head because he finally really realized that he needed to get over being in love with Elena. He was doubtful of having success with this goal because the love he had for Elena was just as deep as the love he had had for Katherine, but he had to try for Elena's sake and his own. This line of thought was more mature and less selfish than Damon was usually accustomed to, but there was a little change inside Damon today. There's only so many times in a day you can hear that someone isn't in love with you before something snaps or a bell of clarity finally rings.

"I know that _I _am the one who broke up with Stefan. I'm the one who ended things. But I didn't break up with him because I didn't love him anymore. It's just that I really believed that he still has feelings for Katherine and that he's just been denying it to everyone, including himself, because he loved me so much and he was trying to be loyal to me, to not betray me. I know he would never physically betray me with Katherine, but it was what was going on in his heart that was really scaring me. God, I know that he loved me. I was never questioning that, but I couldn't handle having to _share_ that with Katherine. And you know what, maybe I was wrong. Maybe he doesn't love her, but I don't believe that. I had to break up with him, not just for me, but for him too. If I broke up with him, he could finally let himself feel for her what he'd been trying not to, and he could figure things out- he could deal with his feelings for her, and after some time had passed he'd finally settle it all and decide once and for all- for _sure- _that I was the one for him," Elena blurted out as soon as they got into the kitchen.

"I always believed that somehow, in the end, Stefan and I were going to end up together again. I might have had to end up waiting awhile, but I really believed that I would be with him again. And then that same night that I broke up with him, we found Jer- we found the three of them dead," Elena was truly sick and tired of crying, but she had no control over it, especially when she thought about her brother.

Damon saw the tears start to pour from her eyes and he couldn't stand it. Seeing her cry sometimes made him feel helpless. You just didn't want to see Elena crying. It wasn't right. It just made you feel horrible. He didn't like seeing her in pain.

"You don't need to explain things, Elena. It's okay," he said, trying to be a good guy. "I know that what happened today was a mistake. I know you wish it never happened. We were drunk, it was stupid and nothing is ever gonna come of it. I know that you're never gonna love me and I should have listened to you when you told me you were always gonna love Stefan. You don't need to put yourself through remembering all this stuff that's making you sad," he said, trying to do the noble thing.

Bonnie would probably be proud of she saw this.

Damon's words just made her cry even more.

"Sorry," he said, not knowing what else to say.

"I _do _need to go through all this stuff, I need to tell you all of this because I owe you an explanation for how selfish I was today," Elena said, clearing her throat and wiping her eyes.

"You weren't selfish," Damon told her.

"I was. And we both took advantage of each other," she said, not really wanting to meet his eyes.

She took a seat and Damon did the same.

"I just broke up with him, but I needed Stefan so much when we found them dead, and he was there when I needed him to be. I broke up with him and he still sat on the phone with me for hours the night that bitch Jules killed Jeremy, Matt and Bonnie's dad. I told him that I just needed to hear his voice and he just kept talking for me. I told myself that I'd be stronger the next day, I just needed him to get through that night. And I tried to keep a certain distance because I didn't want to keep hurting the both of us. Me leaning on him would only hurt later when I'd force myself to act strong- having that comfort and connection again only to take it away the next day. I've been missing him like crazy. And maybe I don't have a right to miss him because I'm the one who ended things, but I haven't been able to get him out of my head. This week has just been one big load of pain and loss and confusion and longing. The deaths and not having Stefan with me anymore, and finding out that John was still sick, and dealing with Isobel hanging around- it all has been so crazy. It's been too much to handle. Maybe I'm just weak, but I was on the verge of a nervous breakdown today," Elena said, looking down at her hands.

"You're definitely not weak, Elena. I'm pretty sure a lot of people would have already gone over the edge, but not you."

"Thanks for saying that."

"I only speak the truth," Damon said.

"I've been missing Stefan and it's my own doing, I know, because I ended things. But it's been a battle for me, and then today in the tomb, you know, hearing about Stefan and Katherine in the past, and what happened to Katherine- things were starting to get to me even more. After you left, they talked more. She asked him if he thought that I was right when I told him that he still loved her. I listened hard as I waited for his answer. Hearing him say yes would prove to me that I wasn't an idiot, that I was right. Hearing him say yes would calm me and the feeling that kept getting stronger of me making a huge mistake by breaking up with him down. Before that moment I had started to think that I'd just ruined everything for nothing by breaking up with him."

"What did he say?" Damon asked, honestly curious to hear the answer.

"He told her that he thought I was right about certain things. He said that I was right about him making himself hate her or at least trying to. He said that the only thing he knew for sure was that he loved me and that loving me never had anything to do with her. He knew he loved me, and he knows that he doesn't hate her. Hearing that made me feel good- you know hearing him say that he loved me, but it was also so frustrating- I just wanted him to admit his feelings for her, to validate my decision.

"He told her that he couldn't say that he loves her because he honestly doesn't know if he does. He said that knows that he cares about her and that he doesn't want anything to happen to her. He said the he knows that he loved her in the past and that he wouldn't deny it anymore. He said that he had loved her so much that it hurt. He said that he had loved her so much that he went on a killing spree in this town because he wanted to kill everyone who had anything to do with what you guys had thought was her death. He wanted to make them pay for taking her away," Elena continued, taking a deep breath.

"He said that he had loved her so much that he gave her your mother's ring."

"I forgot about that ring. I should have known from back then that she didn't feel the same way I did," Damon sighed, shaking his head.

"What do you mean?" Elena asked him.

"I knew that he gave her that ring and that she happily accepted it, but she never did take the gifts I tried to give her."

"I'm sorry."

"Don't be," Damon said, shaking it off. "That's all _way _over now. Continue what you were saying before I interrupted."

"Are you sure?" Elena asked.

"Yeah," he said, laughing a little. "I think I probably need to hear it and drill it into my head."

Elena looked down and felt ashamed of herself all over again.

"Hey," Damon said gently.

Elena looked back up.

"I'm not trying to make you feel bad. I wasn't being sarcastic. I really do think I need to hear all this. I know that what happened was a mistake for you and that you don't feel the same way for me as I do for you, but I need to hear it- so tell me exactly how we got to the point we did today on your end because I really am going to try to fall out of love with you. I know I haven't done anyone any favours by being in love with you. I destroy myself and I make you uncomfortable as hell, and I hurt my brother."

Elena didn't know what to say to Damon, she really didn't, so she did as he asked and continued on with what she was saying before.

Elena cleared her throat and continued speaking. "The ring thing stirred up some jealousy and I didn't really think I could handle listening to them anymore, but not just because it was hard to hear how much he used to love her. I just kept getting more frustrated because he wouldn't say that he loved her now. I was missing him more with each second and regretting my decision to break up with him more and more. I couldn't keep listening to him _not _saying that he loved her because my resolve was starting to lessen. He might not have been able to say that he loves her, but something inside me kept screaming that he did and that I couldn't share him with Katherine no matter how much I wanted him. I told myself that I needed to try get over him, at least for awhile. I knew it wasn't going to be possible, but I had to try to get over being so in love with him, so I needed to try to keep my distance again.

"When I left the tomb, I kept telling myself that in the long run everything was going to work out. I kept telling myself that my decision to break up with Stefan would work out in the end. He'd come to terms with his feelings for Katherine and he'd act on them. And while it would kill me to watch, with time Stefan would realize for sure that I was the one for him. And then we'd get back together. I kept telling myself that. I kept trying to keep it in my head that something good was eventually going to come. I wanted to forget everything for awhile, and then it all just got even worse. My phone rang and the caller I.D. told me that it was Jeremy calling me."

"What the hell?" Damon said, confused.

"I thought that someone was playing some sort of sick joke on me. I almost screamed, but then I remembered that Jeremy didn't have his phone when we found his body. Someone found his phone... I had been trying really hard not to think about the fact that my brother wasn't with me anymore because it hurt so much, but that phone call made that impossible, and then everything came back to me again. The deaths and funeral, Elijah's betrayal, the break-up, learning that I exist because some guy got drunk and forced himself on Katherine, learning that Katherine- someone I thought I hated- was trying to keep me safe, my mom's pop-up in town, and the fact that John's still sick and dying- it all came at me at the same time.

"I so badly just wanted to forget it all for awhile. I headed to my house with every intention of getting drunk out of my mind. I guess between Jenna and John they finished whatever alcohol was in my house, so then I headed over here because I knew you guys had plenty. I came here and I tried to drink all this crap away. After I finished raiding your cupboards and accomplished my goal of getting drunk, I headed upstairs for Stefan's bed. I succeeded in getting drunk, but not in forgetting things. I wanted to stop missing him, but that didn't happen. I just wanted to lie in his bed. I just wanted to be near him again, and lying in his bed while he wasn't here was the only thing I could allow myself. I was in his bed for awhile and then you showed up and said what you said."

"I was a dumbass. You were telling me how much you love him and then I just couldn't keep my mouth shut- I had to ask you why you didn't love me. And I kept pushing things. I said we could try to make you stop loving him and you told me that that wouldn't work. And I told you that we couldn't know that for sure. I told you to let me kiss you. Really pathetic."

"I _let _you, and then I asked you to help me forget Stefan. It's not like this happened without my say-so," Elena told him. "I'm sorry. I should have been stronger. I should have tried to think about the consequences. I should have been less selfish. I used you to try to forget your brother and that's _not _okay. No matter how many shitty things have been happening, it shouldn't have happened. I should have been thinking more."

"You were drunk, Elena. You weren't thinking properly. You can't really blame yourself, because as much as it kills me to say, we both know that there's no way you would have let what happened happen if your head was clear. Maybe you used me, but I took advantage of the situation, too. Now get to the part where you tell me it was all a mistake. Tell me that sleeping with me is the biggest regret of your life. Tell me that you've never loved me and that you're never _going_ to love me. Tell me that you pick my brother. Tell me that I don't have a chance with you."

Elena was about to interrupt him, but Damon didn't give her the chance.

"I'm serious, Elena. Do it. If I'm ever gonna get over you, I need you to do this. I need to hear you say the words."

"What's different about this time, Damon? I told you before that I care about you, but wasn't in love with you. I've told you before today that it's always going to be Stefan for me. Why is me telling you anything going to make a difference for you this time?" Elena asked him, not unkindly.

"Because this time I won't doubt your words at all. This time, all the delusions are gone. I know you're not in love with me, I just need to hear you say it," Damon said simply.

"I have a question- a sober selfish one," Elena said, sighing.

"What's the question?"

"Does this mean that you're going to hate me now, too? Do I lose my friendship with you on the same day that I lose any chance of getting back with Stefan?" she asked him quietly, not looking at him.

"I'm gonna go a little crazy trying to get over you, and maybe I'll need a little space, but you're not gonna lose me. You've done a lot for me, enough that even if I wanted to permanently distance myself from you, which I don't, I couldn't go away if you wanted me around. I'm aware that you cared about me when no one else gave a crap. You gave me chances when I didn't deserve them. You made me feel good. I can't forget that. I can't hate you. I promise that you're not gonna lose me... Now please, let's get this over with. Tell me."

Elena bit her lip and nodded. She took a deep breath and started to speak. Damon truly sounded like he needed to hear her say these things. She didn't want to hurt him, but essentially all of the things were true. She just had to let him know, though, once again, that he wasn't _nothing._ She never wanted to cause Damon any pain. Everything just really sucked.

"It's not because of you. There is nothing wrong with you, Damon. You deserve love. You deserve for the person you're in love with to love you back in the same way, and with me, it's never going to be like that. I know it's not the love you really wanted from me, Damon, but I do love you. You make me happy and I'm glad that you're in my life. And I'm not lying when I tell you that I don't want there to be a day when you're not in my life. I love you as a friend or as a part of this little family we've got going here, but today, sleeping with you was a mistake. Sleeping with you is the biggest regret of my life because I'm in love with your brother. I've never been in love with you, and I'm never _going_ to be in love with you. I pick your brother. I've always picked him. It's always going to be Stefan for me, even though I screwed everything up. You don't have a chance with me romantically- you never did."

Damon forced a smile onto his face and nodded. "Good," he said. "Good."

Elena turned away from him as she felt her eyes water again.

"Don't cry, princess. Trust me, you and I both need me to finally understand that. We're okay. And I'll be okay with some time, too," Damon said trying to keep his voice steady.

"Promise that you'll be okay?" Elena asked, turning back around.

"I promise that I'll try," he told her. And he really, really would try. "I'm gonna go take a walk. I could use some air. I'm not sure how long I'm gonna be, but tell Judgey to just go ahead without me when she and Stefan get back. I'll get her to fill me in if there's anything else that they tell you that I don't know already later on."

"Okay," Elena said, nodding.

Damon looked at her one more time and then he left his house.

Elena went back to the living room. Isobel was still downstairs with John. Luka and Katherine were the only ones in the living room. Katherine had her eyes closed and was stretched across the couch. She looked extremely comfortable. Luka on the other hand looked anything but comfortable. His discomfort wasn't physical, Elena could tell, he just really didn't feel like being there.

"Hey," Elena said, taking a seat next to him. "I bet you think we're all a bunch of freaks, huh?" she said, trying to lighten the mood. She hadn't been in the room but she could guarantee that Katherine had said something to Luka that hadn't made him happy.

Elena had already hurt two guys today, she was hoping that maybe she could brighten another one's mood now instead.

"Not _all _of you," Luka said, giving her a small smile. He could appreciate someone making an effort to make him feel more comfortable in this place. "I think I'd take even the craziest of your bunch as company over Elijah."

"You've got a pretty sucky situation," Elena said, remembering that Elijah had pretty much been Luka's only company for awhile.

"You've even got my sympathies, little warlock," Katherine said, her eyes still closed. "No one but the worst of the worst should have to be around that dirty bastard... I'll tell you what, I'll make sure to mention your name as I slowly kill him and Klaus- I'll let them know you were in on this plan and I'll tell you what their faces look like after I tell them that."

Luka looked confused.

"Let me guess," Elena said. "She was rude to you before?"

Luka just shrugged.

"Don't try to understand her," Elena advised. "She can be a bitch one second, and then she can actually be decent the next. That's just the way she is. Seriously, _don't _try to understand her. You'll only give yourself a headache."

Katherine laughed in response to that.

"I know you've got your own reasons for working with us, but I just wanted to say thank you anyway. We really appreciate your help. It'll be nice to have someone else around who can do magic besides Bonnie, you know, to help her out sometimes and stuff. And I'm sorry about your sister," Elena said, not able to bring herself to say that she was sorry his father was dead. Jonas wanted to kill Bonnie- Elena wasn't spending any time feeling sorry for his death. Luka's sister's death at Klaus's hands, though, Elena had sympathy for that, especially in light of the fact that her brother only died a week earlier.

"Elena, just shut up," Katherine said, finally sitting up and opening her eyes. "Stop over-trying here. You feel bad about Damon, but get over it. You just did him a favour. Trust me, he really did need to hear what you said to him. Being nice to Luka, who you don't actually really give a crap about isn't gonna change that Damon's gonna be an emotional freak for the next little while. And don't worry about thanking Luka, you don't have to thank him because you're worried that he's feeling unappreciated and might stop being on our team. He'd stick around if every single one of us was horrible to him the whole time he was here. He's here because he wants revenge on Klaus and Elijah, and he's here for Bonnie. That's it."

"Are you sure you're related to her?" Luka asked Elena, smiling weakly.

"She and my face say that I am," Elena said, shrugging and laughing a bit.

"I'm _so _lucky," Katherine said, sarcastically.

Elena ignored Katherine and turned to Luka again. She knew he far preferred her company to Katherine's, but she could tell Luka still wasn't fully comfortable.

"I'm sure Stefan and Bonnie will be back soon," she told him.

Luka nodded and asked her if she minded if he just put his headphones on and listened to some music. She didn't mind at all. "Go ahead," she told him.

"I can't wait until Stefan gets back," Katherine said, sending a grin to Elena. "Isn't everything better when he's around? He's so sweet. So sexy. I've missed him. You miss him too, Elena?"

"I'm not drunk anymore. I'm not talking about Stefan with you," Elena told her, sending her a dirty look.

"I don't blame you for being angry. I would be too if I just screwed everything up with him and the girl he loved before me was suddenly back in the picture. I'd be a little nervous," Katherine said. "I can't fully relate to your situation, though."

"And why is that?" Elena asked, rolling her eyes. Katherine was going to tell her why even if she hadn't bothered to ask.

"Because Stefan never loved anyone before me. I was his first love, and we never actually ended things. Circumstances tore us apart. We never actually broke up if you want to be technical about things," Katherine said, grinning one last time before stretching herself out on the couch again and closing her eyes. "I'd be angry too if I were you and screwed everything up with him right now, especially after the trip I took down memory lane with him and that fact that I'm out of the tomb."

"Just say it. Tell me what you've been wanting to say. Tell me that you're planning to get him back. Say it and get it over with. Talking with you is tiring, and draining and disturbing. You want to save my life and make me miserable all at the time. I get it, just spit it out."

"Don't be dramatic, Elena," Katherine said, sounding bored. "I don't want to make you miserable, but it's fun to watch you squirm when I talk about Stefan. It's good to know that you think I'm a threat- it means you understand that there's something that Stefan and I had and that it's major. So here's the official statement little girl, I'm back. I want my guy back and I have every intention of getting him back. I've been without him for far too long. Be prepared for the possibility of seeing him with someone other than you."

Elena laughed sadly to herself. Katherine was probably going to get her wish. Elena was pretty sure that something would eventually happen between Stefan and Katherine. The really sucky part of that is that while this is what she freakishly wanted to happen before when she broke up with Stefan, so that he eventually would figure out that Katherine wasn't the one for him and that Elena was- all because she couldn't stand the thought that Stefan might still have some feelings for Katherine while he was with her- Elena would give anything right now to have Stefan back. She wouldn't even complain once about suspecting that he might still have feelings for the other woman. That's how much she missed him. That's how much she wanted him back. That's how sorry she was for sleeping with Damon.


	64. Chapter 64

**o-0-o-0-o Thanks a bunch to Stelena lover, iwantbirthdaycake, MusicFlowsWithin, Marie, Anna-Lisa, David Fishwick and Danielle for reviewing. You guys rock : ) I'm back in school again so it's been hectic and I have not had very much free time at all, but here it is for you guys- here's the new chapter. I hope you'll enjoy it. Leave me a review and let me know what you think o-0-o-0-o**

"So, what did I miss while I was gone?" Stefan asked Bonnie as she handed him the last bag of Katherine's belongings from her basement.

"You sure you wanna know?" Bonnie questioned.

"Is there something I'm not gonna want to hear?"

"You're just not going to want to be reminded," she told him. "But then again, you might be really amused with part of it, too."

"I'm pretty sure I know what you're getting at. Go ahead. I want to know what I missed even if I'm not going to want to hear it."

"Well, about a minute after you left Isobel figured out what happened- you know, with Damon and Elena," Bonnie said, a little awkwardly, not really wanting to remind Stefan of what she was sure he couldn't get out of his head. "She figured it out and then she flipped out on Damon. She started to attack him. She was just pounding away at him. Katherine warned Damon not to touch Isobel, and she told Isobel to get away from Damon. Isobel didn't listen, and then Damon warned Katherine to get Isobel away from him before Elena became Katherine's only relative left. Katherine got between them and broke up her third fight of the day. And that just seems pretty funny in itself- _Katherine _breaking up fights."

Stefan chuckled. "Yeah, that doesn't really seem to be her thing normally."

"But then not too long after that she kicked John's ass."

"Why?" Stefan asked.

"Because he opened his big stupid mouth," Bonnie said, shaking her head. "Caroline hates Katherine, but I guarantee that even she would never have said what John did. I thought it was pretty low."

"What did he say?"

"After Katherine pulled Isobel away from Damon, she yelled at her. I didn't understand the language so I'm just assuming it was Bulgarian. Anyway, after a minute she switched back to English and she told her that even if she didn't like Damon she needed to realize that Damon was one of the people who was trying to help her protect Elena. Then John opened his mouth and made some kind of comment about not needing some psycho vampire and vampire whore to protect his kid. I've got to give Katherine some credit here, actually. She didn't touch him yet and it's pretty clear that she hates his guts.

"All she had done at that point was tell him to watch it. Then John had to keep going. He was like 'what, you don't like to hear the truth- that you're a whore. Your mother was probably a whore, and I'm guessing your daughter was the same.'"

"What a bastard," Stefan said, sighing.

"Isobel punched him in the face, and Elena yelled at him, but Katherine kicked his ass. She told him never to mention her mom or kid again and she warned him that that was his last chance. She said if he made one more wrong move with her he was dead. She wasn't kidding. And then he pulled the Isobel and Elena card, asking her if she'd actually kill him and take him away from those two," Bonnie said, stopping to take a breath.

"Katherine told him that he was already supposed to be dead and that the only reason he was alive was because Isobel begged her not to kill him. Isobel pulled the family card with Katherine. Did you ever wonder why Katherine chopped off John's fingers?" Bonnie asked Stefan.

"Yeah."

"She chopped off his fingers in place of killing him. After John tried to get you and Damon killed and Katherine found out, she was going to kill _him._ Because Isobel begged her not to kill him, Katherine kept John alive, but she wasn't going to let him get away without anything happening. She chopped off his fingers for you and your brother, but I'm sure it was mostly for you."

Stefan took the words in, but made no comment.

"Nothing to say about that?" Bonnie asked.

"Don't really know what to say," Stefan admitted.

"Alright, moving on," Bonnie said, laughing a little. "I'm really hoping that absolutely nothing happens when we get back there. I just want to finish talking with everyone and then come back home and try to sleep. I don't have much more energy in me today."

"I can head back by myself, if you just want to stay and rest. Trust me, no one would hold it against you."

"I'll head back with you. I'm not gonna bail. I'll try to get some sort of rest later. Plus, I think Luka's probably waiting for me to get back since he doesn't really know anyone else very well," Bonnie said.

"Is he still all in love with you?" Stefan asked, grinning a little.

"I don't even know what to say about that," Bonnie sighed. "Let's not even go there. I don't have the time or energy to think about his feelings for me. My head already hurts, if I wonder about what Luka's feeling, the headache is only gonna get worse."

"Subject closed, then. Let's get back to the most joyful place on the planet right now- my house."

Bonnie laughed at Stefan's sarcastic 'most joyful place on the planet' comment.

"Alright, most joyful place on the planet, here we come."

o-o-o-o-o-o-o-

"You walk really fast. Has anyone ever told you that before?" Caroline said, finally finding Tyler.

"Go back to the house, Caroline," he told her, not turning to look at her. He just kept on walking.

"I'm not going back until you come with me."

"Go back to avoiding me, Care. It's the best thing for you. You had the right idea in keeping your distance," he said.

"I don't want you to keep your distance from me, and I don't want to keep my distance from you."

"I'm pretty sure you were thinking something totally different earlier today, Caroline," Tyler said, still walking.

He was right. It was true. She'd wanted and needed distance, but right now she just wanted to make him stop feeling bad. Right now she really just wanted to get a smile on his face. She didn't want distance now. She just wasn't going to think about the feelings she had for him that were not strictly friend related. Right now wasn't about that. Right now she just wanted Tyler to know that his friend didn't hate him. She wanted him to know that she didn't blame him for what happened to her.

"Well, I was stupid earlier today," Caroline said stubbornly, elbowing her way in front of him, blocking his way.

"Tell me you hate me. Tell me to get lost and never bother you again. All I ever do is screw up. I just bring bad things to you."

"Shut up, Tyler," she said, putting her hand out against his chest to stop him as he tried to move past her.

"It's true. I stood around like a useless wuss while you got tortured. And now this shit that Katherine just said- you should hate me."

"I don't hate you, and I'm not going to start hating you," she assured him.

"Did you not hear what Katherine said?"

"I know what she said," Caroline sighed. "The accident messed stuff up for me. I don't want to dwell on it, and even if things didn't get messed up it's not like it would make a difference for me right now. I'm a vampire. These bodies aren't life-giving vessels, Ty."

"Anyone who has known you since you started to speak knows all about how you wanted babies. A little boy and a little girl, if I remember correctly, right?"

Caroline laughed a little. "Yeah, I wanted that, but I can't have it. There's no point to dwell on it. I have to live my life. I can't focus on the sucky things. I want to focus on the good things I have. There's a lot of bad crap, but there's good stuff, too, Ty. You're one of those good things, by the way."

Tyler was about to say something, but Caroline interrupted him. "No more talking, Lockwood," she said grabbing his hand. "Let's get back."

Caroline started to walk, but Tyler didn't move. Caroline looked down at his hand in hers and she grinned at him. "You know that I don't actually need you to walk for us to get back to the boarding house, right? I could totally just drag you."

It didn't happen right away, but it didn't take all that long either before a little grin could be seen on Tyler's face, too.

o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o

Damon had been walking around like an idiot. He didn't want to be at his house, but he didn't really know where to go. What he wanted was to once again get drunk. He wasn't going to do that again, though. He'd already done something stupid. He didn't need to add one more thing to that list.

He stopped to take in his surroundings. He hadn't been paying attention to where he was walking. He let out a laugh when he saw where he was. He'd never forget what happened here. It didn't look exactly the same as it had in 1864, but this is where he and his brother had died. This is where their father had killed them both.

Damon shook his head and finally decided to take a seat. He had nothing else to do.

o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o

"So, for the millionth time- if it hasn't already been drilled into your heads- act normal. Go on everyday like you normally would. If you ever come across Elijah, pretend that you like him. It's hard, but trust me it's possible if you try really hard. And then soon enough all of this crap will be over. Katherine gave us the date. When that day comes, we can finally get rid of this threat," Bonnie said, rubbing her eyes.

"Tired, Bonnie?" Caroline asked, grinning.

"Gee, how did you guess?" Bonnie asked, laughing.

Katherine had been looking at the clock for a few minutes, and when midnight finally hit her mood really soured. Midnight marked a new day, and Katherine had been hating this day for five centuries. This day held very strong memories.

"Oh, just a little side-note for everyone here- _I'm _ the one who's gonna be killing Klaus and Elijah. That's non-negotiable," Katherine said, making eye-contact with everyone in the room. "No one here is to seek those two out. They're mine."

Luka was about to say something, but Katherine cut him off. "I know about your sister, little warlock, and I get it. I know you want revenge on the bastards because your sister is dead, and I don't blame you for it. You can get your revenge through me, though, because I'm not letting anyone else be the one to finally end those two. I don't particularly care if anyone has a problem with that."

"That's not fair," Luka said.

He did not like Katherine, not at all.

"Life isn't fair," Katherine told him, rolling her eyes.

"You're not the only one who has suffered because of Klaus and Elijah. You're not the only person whose life they messed up. Elijah's told me about you and how they've been hunting for you. Yeah, it probably sucked, but you don't have the right to decide that you get to kill them, and you don't have the right to be such a bitch."

"This would be the time for you to shut up, warlock," Katherine said, sending a glare his way. "Don't talk to me like you know anything about me. You don't know anything about my life. You don't know about the shit I've been through. You can't comprehend all of the things that those bastards took from me. You can't comprehend all the ways that they've ruined my life.

"Did you give birth at the very beginning of 1490, just a couple days after turning fifteen to a baby you didn't even get to look at? Did your father kick you out of your home and send you off to fend for yourself two days after popping a baby out? Did you end up in England thinking that Klaus and Elijah were just two decent guys who really wanted to help a girl out at first, before finding out that that is not what they wanted at all? Were you in a foreign country because you were banished by your father- were you in a foreign country planning for the day when you got to go home and look for your kid? Were you in a foreign country planning and praying for the day you got to meet your kid and see your mother again?

"Were you the girl whose blood they wanted to spill, whose life they wanted to end? Did you have to kill yourself and get turned into a vampire so that Klaus and Elijah couldn't use you in their sacrifice ritual? Did you have to kill yourself so that you could survive to see your kid? Did you finally go back home eager to see your daughter and mother and end up finding your entire family and half of your village killed? Did you find your kid only to end up having to give her away because those two bastards were after you? Did you have to pretend to be-" Katherine had been ranting, but she stopped when she realized all of things she was saying out loud.

Sure, several people in the room already knew about most of these things, but Katherine hated displaying such emotion openly.

The arrival of this day, just kind of threw everything off. She was used to being alone with her emotions on this day, not having to worry about keeping walls up. Normally she could just be alone with her sadness on this day, and freak out, but not this year.

This year there were too many people around her. This year she was acting like an idiot and letting way too much emotion show.

"Klaus and Elijah have been screwing with my life for longer than all of you together in this house have been alive. I've got dibs on killing them. I need revenge more than anyone here. And I've got every right to be a bitch, honey. Just so you know, warlock, this isn't me being bitchy. Trust me, you could be getting _a lot_ worse from me. If you don't like me and my bitchiness- the door is right over there. Feel free to walk out of it and never come back here. Don't overestimate your value. More magic is always a good thing, but we've got Bonnie Bennett who's getting stronger every day on our team already. We'd be just fine without you," Katherine said to Luka, looking him straight in the eye.

When he didn't respond, Katherine smirked. "Good boy. Knowing when to finally shut your mouth is a good trait to have," Katherine said, getting off of the couch and heading up the stairs. "Nighty night, people."

"And on that note, I'm going to head out and get some sleep too," Alaric said, getting up.

Elena watched Katherine walk up the stairs and she didn't like it. Katherine got to stay here with Stefan, while Stefan found it hard to even look at her.

"Are you ready to go?" Isobel asked, coming up beside Elena. "Or are you planning on staying here?"

_I'd love to stay here with Stefan if I could, but I'm pretty sure that's the last thing he would want right now._

"I'm just going to go bring John some food and then I'll be good to go. Why?" Elena asked.

"If you're leaving, I'll walk you home," Isobel said.

"That's okay, you don't have to," Elena said awkwardly.

"But I'm going to," Isobel said. "It's late and it's dark. You're not walking home alone."

"I won't be alone. Everyone else is walking, too."

"Your house is on the way to where I stay. You're not getting rid of me, at least not until you walk through your front door. Deal with it," Isobel told her daughter.

"Whatever," Elena said. "I'll be up in a few minutes."

Luka was more than ready to get out of this house, but before he got to the door Stefan had stopped him.

Katherine was at the top of the stairs but she could still hear everything that was being said downstairs. She was going to head into her room, but stopped when she heard Stefan call out to Luka.

"Hey, Luka" Stefan said. "I just wanted to catch you before you left. I just wanted to say I'm glad you're here helping us out. Even if you have your own motivation, I really appreciate the help in regards to keeping Elena safe. So for that, thank you. But, in regards to Katherine, if you're going to talk to her, watch how you do it. My brother and I may have signed this place over to Elena, but this is still my house and you're still the new guy. Katherine's done nothing to you- you don't get to talk to her like that."

"My sweet Stefan," Katherine said, whispering to no one. She smiled at the top of the stairs before going into and closing the door to what would now be her room, at least for awhile.

Stefan didn't bother to wait for a response from Luka. He just walked over to Caroline instead.

"What's up Smiley," Stefan asked Caroline, who had been motioning him over to her.

"I don't know if I made it clear to you before, so I just want to say it now. I want you to know that I absolutely 100% mean it."

"Mean what?" Stefan asked her.

"That I'm here for you."

Stefan smiled at the blonde. "Thank you. I'll be okay, though."

"Trust me, I want you to be okay, but I'm getting a little sick of you saying that," Caroline said, rolling her eyes. "I'm worried about you, okay? Accept it, and accept it when I tell you that I am not just going to let you try to keep me at a distance because you know that Elena's my best friend. I love her to death, Stefan, I absolutely do, but I love you, too. You're very important to me. You've helped me out in a way that no one else could have. You saved me. You kept me good. You kept me from ever turning into a monster, and you're sweet to me. You listen to me when I have stupid things to say, and you look out for me. You protect me. You're a great friend to me. I absolutely adore you, Stefan Salvatore," Caroline said, giving him a quick kiss on the cheek. "Now tell me that you believe me and that you will talk to me when you're feeling down."

Stefan noticed that the blonde's eyes were shining.

"Aww, Caroline," Stefan said, laughing, but not unkindly. "Come here, you," he told her, pulling her into a hug.

"Say it, Stefan," Caroline told him stubbornly.

"I believe you. And if I'm up for talking when I feel down, I will talk to you," Stefan told her, ruffling her hair a bit.

"Good," Caroline said, wiping her eyes.

"Hey," Stefan said.

"Yeah?" Caroline said, her eyes back on Stefan.

"Thank you. I appreciate your effort to try to take care of me, I really do."

Caroline smiled at him. "It's the least I can do for you."

"Care, are you coming or staying?" Bonnie asked, walking over.

"I'm gonna walk back with you guys when Elena gets back up," Caroline told her.

"Okay, well I'm just gonna go stand outside for a couple minutes until she gets up. I'm feeling really hot in here."

"Okay," Caroline said. "I'll see you out there in a few minutes.

"Goodnight Stefan," Bonnie said.

"Make sure you actually _do _get some rest tonight, okay?" Stefan told her.

Bonnie smiled. "That's the intention."

"Good," Stefan said. "Good night, partner-in-crime."

Bonnie grinned and gave him a wave as she walked out the door.

"That's right- you two totally are partners in crime. You two with all your secrets and plans to kill Originals. I wish you guys would have told us about all of this before, but I get why you didn't. I think you guys were right in how you went about things."

"You guys were always going to know. You know that, right? We were always going to tell you, we just needed to wait for the right time," Stefan said.

"I know that. That's why I'm not mad, beautiful man," Caroline said, grinning.

"Oh, and by the way, just so you know- I absolutely adore you, too, Caroline Forbes."

"Good to know," she said, her smile widening.

Someone cleared their throat. Stefan turned to see Isobel standing next to him.

Caroline gave Stefan a wink and said goodnight and headed outside.

"Yes?" Stefan said.

"I know you don't like John, but you seem to be able to do a decent job of not acting on that. So, uh, I'm just asking you to stick with that and just leave John alone. He's not going to be calling on you or Katherine for company, so if you could just not even bother going downstairs that would probably be the best thing... And uhh, please just keep Katherine from going down there. If someone has to go down there, I'd much rather it be you. You hate him a lot less than she does," Isobel said awkwardly.

"As long as he keeps his mouth shut she's not going to touch him," Stefan said.

"John has a big mouth sometimes. I don't need him to see her and then act like a complete moron again and then get himself killed. Trust me, she hates him... I love Katherine, I really do, but I don't want her near him because she _will _kill him next time he gets on her bad side. I can't have her killing my kid's father. I'm aware that he just seems like a big asshole, but that's not all he is. It's harder to see now, but there's still a good guy in there. That stupid, sweet guy who got me preg-"

Isobel stopped talking suddenly. _What the hell is this? Why am I telling him any of this? What the hell is wrong with me? I don't say this stuff out loud. I need to get away, I need my time alone tonight. Too much stupid emotion today. I'm acting like an idiot._

Isobel, for the second time that night, surprised Stefan. He once again did not know what to say.

Isobel cleared her throat again. "Just keep Katherine away from John."

Isobel didn't wait to see what Stefan would say. She quickly walked away from him and out the door.

Elena was back in the living room. The only one left now, besides Stefan. Tyler, Luka, and Alaric had been the first to head outside. Bonnie, Caroline and Isobel were all out there now, too.

"Would you mind if I came back in the morning to see him, Stefan?" Elena asked.

"It's your house, Elena. Remember?" Stefan said.

"I'm aware of the technicalities," she said quietly. "I'm pretty sure you don't really want me here, so I'm gonna go. I just want to know if you won't mind if I come back in the morning to see my father."

"You're always welcome here, Elena," Stefan said, trying not to look at her. "If you want to stay here to keep him company, that's fine."

"No, I'll come back in the morning," she told him, sighing. "You're only trying to be nice. I know you want me to leave. You need me to give you some space... Do you mind if I grab something from upstairs real quick? I think I forgot something here a couple weeks ago."

"Go ahead," Stefan told her.

Elena headed upstairs and Stefan watched her all the way up. _Why can't I just let this all go? Why can't I make myself hate you? It would be easier that way. This wouldn't hurt if I could hate you. You're right here in my house, yet I'm missing you like crazy. I can't let you say that you love me because it's going to be exactly what I need to hear and it's going to make me angrier at you all at the same time._

Elena walked into Stefan's room and was a little shocked. She hadn't expected it to look like a hurricane passed through. There was no bed. The window was broken. The mirror was shattered. The drawers of the dressers were pulled out and thrown across the room. Nothing, except one thing was left standing. It was a disaster area.

Elena took a deep breath and pulled out a piece of paper from her purse. She knew that Stefan wasn't going to let her try to explain anything to him, so she had written him a note while she and Luka and Katherine, who had eventually gone off to take a shower, had been waiting for everyone to get back.

She also pulled out a pen so that she could write the last bit that she had wanted to. Everyone had come back before she could finish. Elena took the pen and wrote on the page.

'I am not and have never been in love with Damon. I've never felt the way I feel about you with anyone else. I'm never going to feel the way I do for you for anyone else. You're the love of my life. I messed up. I messed up so badly. I'm so sorry that I hurt you. I never meant to hurt you. I miss you so much already and it hurts. I know you're not ready to talk about any of this with me, so I'm just going to put this letter in your room. I know you won't be coming in here again for at least a few days, possibly a lot longer than that. I just hope you understand and believe me when you do come across this. I'm sorry, Stefan. I love you.'

Elena walked over to the only part of the room that wasn't destroyed or messed up- the tiny dresser by the closet- the one that still had their picture standing on it.

She was relieved to see that at least Stefan hadn't been able to destroy that picture of them. She placed the note on the dresser, but was unable to leave without doing something else. Elena knew that she was going to have a lot of trouble sleeping. She really doubted that she was going to get any sleep when she got home, but she at least needed some sort of comfort. She needed something of Stefan's.

Elena grabbed one of his shirts and stuffed it inside her purse before walking back downstairs.

"You find what you were looking for?" he asked her.

She nodded.

"Goodnight, then."

"Wait, Stefan."

"What is it, Elena?"

Elena didn't even know what to say. She wanted to say something, but she just didn't know what would be okay.

"Thank you for still looking out for me. Thanks for coming back for this whole group chat thing."

"I'm never going to let anything happen to you, Elena. I'm always gonna look out for you. Many things changed today, but that hasn't. I can promise you that that never will."

Elena nodded and attempted to smile. "Goodnight, Stefan."

Elena walked out the door. Only Stefan and Katherine were left.

Stefan headed upstairs, ready for a shower.

He grabbed a towel from the hall instead of his room because he wasn't going back in there. He couldn't bear to go back in there, not yet.

He poked his head into Katherine's room. "Comfy?" he asked her, smiling a bit.

Katherine smiled back. "Very. I'd hug this bed if I could. Being stuck in a tomb gives me a new appreciation for beds."

"I'll leave you to enjoy the bed, then. I'm gonna grab a shower and then head to bed. Goodnight."

"Sweet dreams, Stefan."

Stefan closed the door and headed for one of the many bathrooms in his house.

He made the water as hot as he could get it in an attempt to relax himself. He was sure that it wouldn't really help, but he figured he would try anyway.

Stefan stood under the pouring water for half an hour. He'd sort of just dazed out and lost track of time.

He turned off the water and got out of the shower. He dried himself off with the towel and reached out for some clean clothes. That's when he realized that he didn't have any. He hadn't gone back into his room and therefore he had no clean clothes with him.

He wasn't in the mood to sleep naked or with just a towel on, but he absolutely could not go back into his room either.

Stefan took a deep breath and wrapped the towel around his lower half. He'd have to ask Katherine to go grab something for him to wear.

He opened the door to her room again. "You still awake?"

She didn't answer.

"Are you sleeping?" he asked, walking further into the room.

Still no answer.

She was asleep. He'd have to wake her up.

He reached out to touch her shoulder. He remembered that she was a light sleeper, so he figured that would be enough to wake her up.

It definitely was enough to wake her up.

Katherine looked around the room for a second and then sighed. She sighed and wiped her eyes. Every year, without fail, she would have the same dream on this day and every year she would cry.

"Are you okay?" Stefan asked.

He startled her a bit, she hadn't even noticed that she wasn't alone.

"I'm fine," she said quickly, making sure not to turn and look at him yet. She made sure that her eyes were dry before she turned to look at him.

"Bad dream?" he asked her.

"I'm fine," she repeated.

"Okay," Stefan said, leaving it alone. She wasn't going to tell him what was up. "I kind of need a favour, if you don't mind."

"What would this favour be?" Katherine asked, finally turning back around in the bed to face him.

A smirk immediately formed on her face when she got a look at Stefan. Her eyes roamed up and down his body.

"Looking good, love," she told him.

Stefan tightened the towel around his waist.

If vampires could blush, Katherine would bet that Stefan would be doing that right now.

"Don't be shy, Stefan. You know there's not a _single_ part of you that I haven't already seen before."

"Could you get something for me?" he asked her awkwardly as she continued to stare.

"What would that be?' she asked him.

"Could you go into my room and grab me something to sleep in?"

"Can't go back in there?" Katherine asked him, more seriously now.

He shook his head.

"Okay," she said, sitting up and getting out of the bed.

She smirked when she saw Stefan's reaction. He quickly changed the direction of his glance.

"This is nothing you haven't seen before either, love. Don't be so shy. I mean, really, especially since you're so used to this body. Elena's the doppelganger. I'm guessing it's not just our faces that are identical."

Stefan had nothing to say.

"I was feeling hot and constrained," Katherine said, amused. "The bra had to come off."

Katherine walked out of her room and into Stefan's with just her underwear on.

She found a pair of pants and walked back into her room.

"There you go," she said, handing him the pants. "No need for a shirt. Give me something nice to look at in the morning," she said, teasing, standing in front of him.

Stefan just shook his head. "Thanks," he said. "Can you put a top on or something?"

"You walked in here and woke _me _ up, love. I can't help how I like to sleep," she said, still amused. "And like I said, it's not like you haven't seen this before. I bet it's not any different from your precious Elena."

That comment made him feel both a little angry and a little bad.

"It doesn't matter if I've seen it a thousand times, Katherine. What matters is that I _shouldn't_ be seeing it." Stefan had Elena in his head now, her words of insecurity, her words of worry over Stefan seeing her as just another Katherine were in his head.

"Why not? You don't owe anyone anything. You got screwed over tonight. You can look at whatever you want," Katherine said, finally showing Stefan some mercy by climbing back into the bed and getting under the sheets.

And now Stefan had Elena and Damon in his bed stuck inside his head once again. Anger was back. The image was there and he couldn't stand it. The part of him that was still furious with what had happened wished that Elena was here at the moment just so she could hear him say his next words. The part of him that was still so very in love with her was happy that she wasn't. He couldn't and wouldn't do anything to hurt Elena out right, but the part that was hurting wanted to do something, wanted to make himself feel less pathetic for still loving this girl, the part of him that was hurt needed at least a silent 'screw you' to Elena that she would never hear.

If Elena got to know someone else's body, he got to remember someone else's too. And she was right here.

"It's not exactly the same."

Katherine looked at him. She said nothing. She waited for him to continue speaking instead.

"The shape is exactly the same. You've both got the same curves and all that. But I'll always be able to tell you two apart," he told her.

Once again, Katherine said nothing. She was going to let him speak. Let him remember.

"There's the birthmark on your wrist. She doesn't have that. There's the birthmark on her lower back. You don't have that. She's got a beauty mark on the inside of her left thigh and on her ass. You don't have that. You've got a beauty mark on the inside of your right thigh, and you've got one right about here," he said, throwing modesty aside, and putting his hand on her sheet-covered breast.

Katherine hadn't been expecting that.

It was Stefan's turn to smirk.

"Thanks for the pants," Stefan said, heading out of the room. "And again, goodnight."

"Wow," Katherine whispered, as she curled up again, trying to go back to sleep.

Stefan felt good and bad when he finally climbed into the bed in one of the many spare rooms in the house.

He felt bad for wanting to get payback, even payback that Elena wouldn't know about. He felt bad because he knew Elena had been insecure about Katherine. And if she knew that he remembered every inch of the other woman's body it would hurt her even though it shouldn't. He had been completely in love with Elena. Katherine had been all about memories.

Elena didn't understand that you could carry memories of someone and not be in love with them. She broke up with him because she thought he had feelings for Katherine. She was shoving feelings that he didn't have onto him. He was in love with her. He was completely in love with Elena but she just couldn't believe it. She had to go break up with him and then sleep with his brother and ruin everything.

She broke his heart and he had a right to do or say whatever he wanted at this point. She broke up with him over Katherine- so why not let himself remember her? Why not say out loud how he remembered Katherine after Elena murdered his heart and slept with his brother?

Stefan didn't need to feel bad. He and Elena were over. He could do or say whatever he wanted to, or with, anyone he wanted. If he wanted to fool around and flirt with Katherine at this point, he could do it. If he wanted to go back in time and get lost in his memories with Katherine and bring the past into the present, he could do it. Elena had no right to be mad at him for anything after today.

Stefan just sighed. He couldn't even be properly angry with Elena because of his love for her. Even when he tried to do something in some kind of pathetic attempt at a bit of revenge he was left feeling bad. Why did he have to love so deeply?

Stefan tried to get Elena out of his head for awhile and concentrated on Katherine's surprise from a moment earlier. That made him grin again. Elena came back in his head like she always did- Memories of the good times with her flooded his mind, and everything just hurt all over again when he inevitably remembered Elena and his brother in his bed. He moved his mind onto something uncomplicated, someone with whom his relationship was completely uncomplicated and a nice little comfort- Caroline. He smiled and tried to focus on the sweet girl who he was happy to call a friend.

o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o

Bonnie sat up in her bed, very annoyed. "Why can't I still hate your freakin' guts? My life would be so much damn easier if I wasn't worried about you going nuts and then having to kill you. Hating you is _so_ much easier than giving a crap. You suck, Damon Salvatore. You fucking suck," Bonnie huffed, getting out of her bed and throwing some clothes back on.

She had texted and called him a bunch of times to check if he was doing okay, but he answered none of her calls or texts.

Elena had told her about her conversation with Damon and Bonnie was happy that the conversation happened because Damon definitely needed to hear Elena tell him once and for all that she was never going to be in love with him. Bonnie was nervous though, because Elena and Katherine had both given him similar speeches today.

Hearing the only two women you've ever loved both tell you that they don't share your feelings and never did would probably send a normal, calm and completely sane guy's world into a bit of a tailspin, but this was _Damon _she was talking about here. And Damon was none of those things.

Damon had been good to her lately. She really, really did not want to kill him. He'd actually become pretty entertaining and she was now used to the crazy vampire as a regular part of her life.

Bonnie didn't know if he was doing anything crazy. She hoped that he wasn't. Part of her was even pretty sure that he wasn't doing anything bad right now. The other part, though, the part of her that really didn't want to have to kill Damon couldn't rely on that feeling.

She had to go find Damon and possibly stop him before he did something that he and Bonnie would both regret.

Damon Salvatore was still often annoying as hell, but the guy was her friend now and Bonnie had no intention of losing anymore of people in her life, especially at her own hands.

Bonnie grabbed a jacket and headed out into the dark.

_Please don't be doing anything bad. Please, please, please._


	65. Chapter 65

**o-0-o-0-o Thanks to Hooked-On-TVD, Danielle, Julchen1515, MusicFlowsWithin, Marie, Anna-Lisa, Raya, laugh4life and David Fishwick for the reviews. You guys rock and keep me motivated. School's back in full force again so I'm quite busy with that. Lol truthfully I didn't even have the time to do this update but I made time and postponed working on an essay so I could give you a new chapter. Hope you'll enjoy it. I liked writing it. Leave me a review and let me know what you think o-0-o-0-o**

Bonnie knew without a doubt that Damon was not at his own house right now. There was no way he would be there, at least not for another hour or two. If he was going to go home at all, Bonnie was sure he'd wait until he knew his brother was asleep This was unfortunate for Bonnie because it meant that she had to wander around town like an idiot looking for him.

She was extremely tired, and therefore her annoyance with Damon's lack of responses to any calls or text messages was very high.

She was out here searching for him when she was in serious need of sleep to make sure he wasn't doing anything bad, to potentially stop him from doing something before it got really bad- before she needed to make good on her word.

She had been looking for him for over an hour. She had avoided the woods, searching the areas with light and a few people still around at first.

Sure, she was a witch, but that didn't mean that she had any great desire to enter the dark woods at night. Witch or not, Bonnie didn't think walking through the woods alone was the smartest idea.

Who knew what was out there at night. She wouldn't be surprised if there was a supernatural presence there. She had no proof, but she was pretty sure that with Elijah gone he had at least a few of his own vampires keeping an eye on the town. She was almost certain that Caroline, Stefan, Damon, Katherine and Isobel were not the only vampires in town. Bonnie wasn't in the mood to run into any vampires that weren't them.

She could take vampires down, at least the ones who weren't as old as Katherine. She was wondering if that had changed at all yet, with all of the work she'd been putting into getting stronger. She knew that with some time, if she wasn't already able to, her aneurisms would work on older vampires, too.

If there were vampires roaming around, though, she had no idea how old they were. And even a newly-turned vampire, she knew realistically, if they caught her off guard, could be a major threat to her. It didn't take them long at all to snap a neck or drain the life out of someone.

She was tired as hell, and vampires were insanely fast and strong. Bonnie was confident in her abilities, but she wasn't stupid or cocky. She knew she wasn't invincible. She needed to watch her back.

She walked into the woods and hoped to find Damon sooner rather than later. She'd been in the woods for about ten minutes when she heard someone call her name. She shrieked because she was startled. Despite her own warning to herself to be careful, she had let her mind wander as she looked for Damon. Her sleepiness had her not totally focused.

Bonnie began to muster up some energy to use in case she needed to defend herself.

"Don't waste your energy, Bonnie. I mean you no harm," the voice said again, coming closer.

She knew that voice. It was Anton.

"You're supposed to be gone, aren't you?" Bonnie said, relaxing a bit.

She didn't like this guy, but she knew he wasn't going to try to attack her.

"I'm leaving. I was on my way out of town after I left the boarding house earlier, but I wanted to do something first. There's something that I could actually do for her, something I think she would accept. I'm still here only because I was going to get these to her, but maybe finding you here is much better. This way there's no chance that she'll see me and get angry again. Please give this to her," Anton said, handing a large envelope to Bonnie.

"To Katherine?" she asked.

"Yes," he said.

"Okay," Bonnie said awkwardly.

"Why are you out here at this time?"

"That's not your concern. Get the hell out of here," Damon said, voice dripping with acid, appearing out of nowhere.

"I was going to offer to walk Bonnie back to her home," Anton said simply.

"Get gone right now," Damon warned. "I've had a shitty day and I have no problem finishing what me and my brother started earlier," Damon said, referring to their attack on Anton. "Bonnie doesn't need you to walk her back. I'll walk her back. And either way, she's not helpless. She doesn't actually need a vampire bodyguard."

Anton said nothing to the other vampire, but uttered his goodbye to the witch and headed out of town for real this time.

"Where the hell did you come from?" Bonnie asked, turning to Damon, rubbing her eyes.

"I heard you scream. I came to find you," Damon said.

"I'm fine," she told him. "He just startled me... Seriously, where the hell have you been, Salvatore?"

"I've been sitting on my ass under a tree. Good times," Damon said, rolling his eyes. "To echo the asshole, why _are _you out here?" Damon asked.

"Are you freakin' kidding me?" Bonnie said, angrily, shoving Damon.

Damon looked down at Bonnie, a little bit amused. She was clearly pissed off with him for some reason.

"Is there a reason that you're abusing me?" Damon asked, smirking.

"Answer your fucking phone or send a damn two word response via text, ass-face! Some of us are exhausted and actually need a decent amount of sleep, and don't need to be wandering around town like an idiot trying to find you! I know you had a crappy day, but trust me, so did I. I don't like to bitch and complain, but seriously, the least you could do on this shitty-ass day, even if you didn't wanna talk, was to text me back and say you were okay. You never answered, so then I was left with a bunch of different scenarios running through my head.

"You weren't answering, so I had no idea what was going on. I didn't know if you were going psycho and gonna do something stupid. A part of me thought you'd be passed that now. Part of me thought that you weren't going to do anything stupid, but no word from you got me all paranoid that you were out about town getting ready to chow down on someone. So I hauled my ass out of bed and came looking for you, so that I could stop you from doing something stupid!" Bonnie yelled. "You don't look like you ate anyone- good stuff. Have a lovely night," Bonnie said, sarcastically, starting to walk away.

"Bon-Bon, wait up," Damon said, following her. "My phone was off, Judgey. I didn't know you called or texted," he told her.

Bonnie looked at him and raised an eyebrow.

"Look for yourself, Bennett," he said, pulling out his phone.

She looked at it. It _was _turned off.

She shoved the phone back into his hands and muttered something that sounded like 'you still suck.'

Damon turned on his phone and followed Bonnie.

"You were right, I don't need anyone to walk me home. You can go back to wherever you were," Bonnie sighed, a little bit sorry that she snapped at him.

Damon wasn't paying attention to what she was saying because he was reading all the text messages she had sent. There were a couple from Alaric, too. Alaric had also tried to call him once, Damon could see. Bonnie had called nine times. Nine calls and thirteen text messages.

Damon let out a laugh when he got to the last of Bonnie's text messages.

"What's so funny?" she asked.

"You," he said. "The texts progress quite wonderfully. They start off nice and get more annoyed and angry-sounding after each one. This last one is lovely," Damon said.

Bonnie laughed a little bit. Yeah, it wasn't the nicest message. But it's not her fault- she had been pissed off.

"Let me read it out loud for you to refresh your memory, Judgey," Damon said. "Here we go 'Don't be an asshole, you moron. Answer your damn phone or send a damn text message. I don't need more than a two word response. I'm sure even a dingbat like you can write _I'm okay. _You know what, I'm gonna fry your brain just for fun when I find you, even if you haven't done anything bad.' Bonnie Bennett, you can be quite nasty. Mean girl."

Bonnie just shrugged and tried not to laugh..

"So I take it that you've decided against frying my brain, then?" he asked her, still amused by the text message.

"Maybe tomorrow," she said, rolling her eyes.

"I feel like shit," Damon said after a couple moments of walking in silence.

"What?" Bonnie asked. She didn't stop walking, but she slowed her pace a bit.

"The answer to the first of your text messages," Damon said. "Your first message said 'Hey. Are you okay? How are you feeling? Okay, I know, that was a stupid question. Call me if you need me.' This stays strictly between you and me, Bennett. The answer to how I'm feeling, or was feeling- is shitty. Elena said nothing bad at all, she was sweet, but there's this feeling inside of me that I mean nothing- that I _am _nothing."

Bonnie stopped walking and turned to face him. She softened considerably. "You're not going to feel so bad forever, Damon. Give it some time. It's not always gonna hurt so much. Things can feel like they'll never be right again, sometimes. Sometimes you believe that you'll never get over the hurt you're feeling, but most of the time what we just really need is time to deal with it. I'm not saying that time completely heals all wounds. I'm just saying, it usually helps a lot. It can help with the hurt.

"Some hurt will always be with us. There's some things we just can't quite shake off completely, even if we want to, but time makes things hurt less. Time can help take away the sting and the excruciating pain part. There might be some pain left, but it won't stay the kind of pain that eats away at you. It might rise up now and then, but it won't always be so overwhelming.

"You seem to have handled yourself well tonight. You didn't storm off and do anything stupid. Even though a big part of me was pretty sure that you wouldn't go out and do something bad, the other paranoid part of me freaked out a little when I didn't hear from you. I came out here looking for you, wanting to make sure that everything was okay, wanting to prevent you from doing anything bad. I wanted to prevent you from doing anything bad so that I wouldn't have to keep my promise. I came out here to find you so I wouldn't have to kill you later on. I don't want you gone. You're a major headache to have as a friend, but you're _not_ nothing. For whatever it's worth to you, I'm proud of you. And I'm sorry you're hurting," she told him

The witch managed to make him smile.

"Can you do something for me, Bennett?"

"What would that be?" Bonnie asked.

"I know I bug you sometimes about the way you are, but seriously, don't change. Stay _exactly _the way you are. Don't ever change," Damon told her, meaning it.

Bonnie knew that was Damon's way of saying thanks and telling her he respected her.

"You need to give me a warning before you say something like that. You need to give me time to pull out my phone so that I could record those words. I should be able to have proof that you said that to me and be able to play it back in your face over and over again. Let me get my phone and then you can say it again," Bonnie said, smirking.

"Dream on, Witchy. Savour those words and sear them into your brain because that's where they're gonna stay. That was a one-time thing," Damon said, shaking his head. "Anyway, what did that loser give you," he said, changing the topic.

"Something to give to Katherine," she told him.

He took the envelope from her hands and opened it up.

"Wow, nosy much?" Bonnie said, smacking him upside the head. "Is your name Katherine?"

Damon rolled his eyes and opened the envelope.

"Well, what is it?" Bonnie asked.

"Is your name Katherine?" he asked her, smirking.

"Oh shut up," she said. "You opened it and saw it, I might as well see it now, too."

The envelope had several sheets of paper inside, but even Damon knew that it wouldn't be right to look at more than the first one, at least not right now. These were for Katherine. She should be the first one to set eyes on them.

The first sheet of paper was a portrait of someone who was very clearly Katherine, holding a little girl with a blanket in her hand.

"Is that her daughter?" Bonnie asked, looking at the drawing.

"I think so," Damon said, nodding, remembering what Katherine had said in the tomb about buying a blanket.

"She's a beautiful little girl," Bonnie said. "That's not really surprising though. Katherine might be a bitch more often than she's nice, but she's beautiful. And put whatever horrible shit the guy has done aside, Anton's hot. It would be hard for the kid to turn out looking anything but beautiful... We should probably put the pictures away, Damon."

"Yeah, I know," he said, putting the sheets of paper back in the envelope.

"So what are you gonna do? Are you going home or had you planned on staying under some tree all night?" Bonnie asked Damon, starting to walk again.

"I'm not exactly in the mood to spend the night at my house and wake up in the morning with my brother sending death glares my way," Damon said sarcastically, "but I want to bring this there so Katherine can see it when she wakes up."

"So then what are you gonna do, just wander around all night? I'm sure even you could use some sleep Damon, don't be stubborn. Just go home and sleep and if you really don't want to be there while your brother is awake, leave during the day."

"Nope, I'm just gonna drop off the envelope. Stefan hates my guts right now, I'm sure of it. I don't wanna be around him like that. Trust me, he needs some space from me. I'll just go knock on Alaric's door and see if he's still up in a bit. Maybe he'll let me crash on his couch," Damon said to Bonnie, trying to look as innocent and lonely as possible.

"We both know you're not gonna go knock on Alaric's door at this time. Don't look at me like that, Salvatore. I'm not an idiot. If you wanna crash at my house you're gonna have to ask, not try to deceive me into feeling sorry for you and offering my couch for you to sleep on," Bonnie said, smirking.

Damon rolled his eyes. "Fine. Oh Judgey one, may I please crash on your sofa tonight? Pretty, pretty please?"

"Yes you may, since I'm such a nice person," Bonnie said. "But you stay out of my bedroom this time."

"Awww, you suck. You in your underwear, just waking up and slightly confused was quite a nice sight from what I remember," Damon grinned.

"You're such a perv. If I see you in my room, the only morning greeting you're gonna get from me is either a huge brain aneurism or perhaps you might yourself on fire," Bonnie told him.

"You are no fun at all, Bon-Bon."

"Do you wanna crash on my couch?"

"Yes," Damon said.

"Then stay the hell out of my room, Salvatore."

"Fine, fine. I will be good little Damon and not venture into your room."

"I knew you'd see things my way," Bonnie said, laughing.

o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o

Elena shot up in her bed with tears streaming down her face.

She had just dreamt about Jules murdering her brother. She tried to shake it off and go back to sleep, but all she kept seeing were bloody bodies and caskets getting lowered into the ground.

She picked up her phone and dialled Stefan's phone number without thinking.

When she heard his sleepy voice, she came back to reality and shut the phone immediately. She couldn't just call him whenever she needed him, not like this. She couldn't be that selfish. All she wanted right now was for Stefan to be here. She wanted him to be here and tell her that it would be okay eventually. She wanted him to hold her and make this pain and feeling of loss go away. But she couldn't have what she wanted, not after what happened.

She got up and threw her phone down onto her bed. She went to go splash some water on her face and get a drink of water.

Elena knew that she wouldn't be able to fall back asleep right now. She went downstairs and grabbed a jacket, trying to be as quiet as possible, not wanting to wake Jenna.

She put the jacket on and headed out the door.

She found herself practically running to the graveyard. Most people would think she was crazy for wanting to be at the cemetery at night, but she needed to be there right now. She missed her brother.

"I miss you so much, Jer," Elena said, talking out loud. There was no one around. And even if there had been, she didn't care who heard her.

She was hurting emotionally and physically. She felt sore and sick.

"Can't this all just be some kind of nightmare? Can I just wake up from this and find you asleep in your room where you belong? I miss you. It's just not right without you here," she cried. "Everything is wrong Jer. I miss you so much and I've screwed up so bad. I'm a wreck, Jer."

A couple minutes went by before she heard someone speak.

"Come on, Elena. Let me get you back home. You shouldn't be out here at this time."

Elena turned around and saw Stefan and that just made her cry even more

"I'm sorry for waking you up," she choked out, wrapping her arms tightly around herself. "I'm sorry for calling you. I- I-"

"It's okay," he told her. "You can't do that again, though, okay?"

"Okay," she nodded trying to steady her voice and not cry even more. "I won't call you again. I won't bother you. I'm sorry."

Stefan sighed. He couldn't stand seeing her like this. He couldn't stand to see her cry. Her tears would always have an affect on him. "That's not what I mean," he told her, reaching his hand out to wipe away her tears.

Elena felt like she might faint when she felt his hand on her face.

"You can't call me and hang up and scare me like that and then not answer your phone to tell me if you're okay. You scared me. I ran out of my house and over to yours looking for you, then I had a lucky guess and assumed you might be here."

"I'm sorry," Elena said again.

"Come on, Elena. Let me get you home. You need a decent sleep," he told her.

"I can't go to sleep, Stefan," she said. "I just keep seeing horrible things. I keep seeing him dead. And there's blood and-"

"If I sit with you for awhile, you think that'll help you?" he asked her, taking a deep breath.

He could not leave her in grief and misery. He had been great at helping her sleep before, maybe he could help her now, too.

Elena only nodded, she didn't trust herself with words.

"Okay. Come on, then," he said, putting his hand out.

Elena's heart nearly melted. She took his hand and started walking home with him.

_This is how wonderful he is. He's here trying to take care of me after I broke his heart. _

Elena was in somewhat of a daze as they walked back to her house- thinking about Jeremy and thinking about Stefan.

When they got back to her house, Elena got back into her bed, and Stefan pulled a chair up next to her.

"Just close your eyes, Elena," he said. "Close your eyes so you can rest. I'm here."

She closed her eyes.

_I want you to stay here with me, always. _"Thank you, Stefan," Elena said quietly.

She had closed her eyes, but a good ten minutes had passed and Stefan knew she hadn't fallen asleep yet.

He got up off the chair and sat himself down on the empty space on her bed.

He heard her intake of breath.

He remembered how fast she would fall asleep when he would just run his hands through her hair or just play around with it.

He took a strand of her hair and just ran it through his fingers.

He could see her body relax, so he just kept repeating that.

Elena was sleeping within ten minutes.

Stefan got up carefully and pulled up Elena's blankets a little higher so that she wouldn't get cold.

He didn't leave right away. He found himself picking up a picture of them and remembering the day it was taken.

He could hear Jenna in the other room. It sounded like she was about to wake up so Stefan quickly made his exit.

Before Stefan headed back to his own house, he took a minute to just look at this one. It felt like it had been forever since he was here last, when in reality in hadn't even been two weeks. He missed this place. And despite everything, he missed Elena.


	66. Chapter 66

**o-0-o-0-o Thanks to David Fishwick, Julchen1515, MusicFlowsWithin, Danielle, Tina, and Marie for reviewing. I love hearing from everyone. Here's the next chapter. As always, I hope you'll enjoy it. Leave me a review and let me know what you think o-0-o-0-o**

Damon and Bonnie had literally been in and out of the Salvatore house.

They went in long enough for Damon to drop the envelope off on the living room table and head right back out the door.

A couple hours went by since it was dropped off and Stefan had passed by it without noticing at all when he'd rushed out of bed and off to find Elena.

Katherine woke up when she heard Stefan yell "I'll be back," and run out of the house.

Katherine got out of bed, grabbed a robe from the closet and headed downstairs.

She was craving blood, so she headed down to the basement to grab a bag or two of it. She was so tempted to go into the cellar where John was being held and throw him around.

She didn't act on her desire, though, and only did what she went down to do. She grabbed a couple blood bags and headed back upstairs.

She took a seat on the couch and waited for Stefan to get back so she could see what was up.

She made a hole in one of the bags and started to drink.

She finished the bag pretty quickly, but left the other one on the table for now.

She stretched out on the couch, putting her feet up.

Katherine didn't think she was going to fall back asleep any time soon. She kept dreaming of her daughter. This day was always bad. She lost her daughter two times on this day in two very far-apart years. This was the day she had to give Rayna away because she knew that Klaus and Elijah were after her. This was also the day that her daughter died.

There was no escape from sadness on this day. Every year it would creep up on her and smack her in the face. Every year she would remember, and every year she would cry. Even when she was at her worst, even if she had largely turned off anything human inside of her, every time the day came around she just broke down.

Over 500 years had done nothing to make her forget. She could never forget her. There would not ever be a time where this day would be an easy one.

Katherine just sort of spaced out for awhile, getting lost in her thoughts. She didn't know how much time had passed from the time Stefan had left until now. He was walking back inside the house and Katherine wasn't ready for that because she knew her face was tear-stained.

"Mind if I sit?" Stefan asked, coming over to the couch.

"Go ahead," Katherine said, getting up quickly. She had no desire to be seen crying.

"Hey, what's wrong?" he asked her.

"I'm fine," she told him, making her way to the bathroom.

"No you're not. You've been crying. That's twice tonight," Stefan said, following her. "I'm not blind, Katherine. Something's wrong. What happened?"

"I don't know what you're talking about. I'm not crying," she said, closing the door to the washroom before he got there.

_Calm yourself down. Reign in your emotions. Just try not to think about the horrible stuff. Try to put the bad things aside. You don't need him to see you broken and crying. _ She turned the tap on and splashed some water on her face.

"How's Elena?" Katherine asked, calm, when she came out of the washroom after giving herself a minute to compose herself.

She headed back over to the couch again and stretched out on it once more.

"How'd you know that's where I went?" Stefan asked, coming back over to the couch, too.

Katherine laughed and rolled your eyes. "What else would have you flying out of bed and running out the door in two seconds flat? Is she okay?" Katherine asked, lifting her feet up so Stefan could sit.

"She misses her brother," was all Stefan said.

When Stefan was seated, Katherine, put her feet back down.

Stefan looked down at Katherine's feet in his lap and Katherine smirked. Maybe he could help get her mind off things.

"Are you comfortable?" he asked her, shaking his head.

"Yes I am, actually. You know what would be totally awesome, though? Something that would make me even more comfortable?" she asked, teasing him.

"What?" Stefan asked, sighing.

"A foot massage," she told him grinning.

"Sorry, but I'm not helping you out with that," Stefan told her, laughing.

"You're so mean Stefan," Katherine said, pretending to pout. "You decided to feel me up a few hours ago and now I can't even get a foot massage?"

"You're not gonna forget about that, are you?"

"Definitely not," Katherine told him, the grin not leaving her face.

"What's that?" Stefan asked, changing the subject, finally noticing the envelope on the table.

"I don't know," Katherine told him, taking her feet off him and leaning over to pick it up. "Here," she said, handing it to him.

He opened it up and pulled out the first sheet of paper.

"Oh wow," he said quietly. "This isn't for me or Damon. This is definitely for you," he said, staring at the sheet.

"What is it?" she asked him.

"Here," he said, passing her both the sheet he was looking at, and the envelope with the others in it.

"Oh my God," Katherine whispered, taking a look.

This was a picture of her with Rayna. Katherine bit her lip and traced her finger across the face of her daughter in the picture.

Katherine was completely in her own world now. It was only her and her daughter. Stefan knew that she was in some other place.

He watched her.

Katherine closed her eyes and took a deep breath. She stared at the picture for quite awhile. Stefan noticed that Katherine's eyes were shining.

She finally reached into the envelope and took out another sheet. Once again, she stared at it for awhile. Her eyes were no longer just shining, they had tears coming out of them. When she got to the third picture, the tears were pouring out.

This was something quite foreign to Stefan- seeing Katherine cry. It was foreign and it made him feel horrible. He felt absolutely useless. He wanted to do something, but he had no idea what to do.

She pulled out the last two sheets of paper. One of them, the last one, Stefan thought, must be a note or something because it looked like Katherine was reading it.

After a couple minutes had passed Katherine put all the sheets of paper back into the envelope. She took a deep breath, wiped her eyes and picked up her phone and dialled a phone number.

The house was quiet enough that Stefan heard through the phone the voice of the person Katherine had called. Anton.

"Don't take this as a sign that I want you to come back here, because I absolutely _don't_. Stay away from here. And don't think that this makes everything okay, because it doesn't, not at all. I don't want to see you and don't you dare ask me if I forgive you. Don't ask me anything and don't say anything. This isn't a phone call to start a conversation. I'm hanging up in a matter of seconds. I just wanted to tell you that you've done so many things wrong, but this, tonight, you did _this _ right. I forgot that you used to draw- thank you for the pictures."

Anton had been about to say something, but Katherine hung up the phone. She was serious, she had no desire to speak to him.

Stefan still sat watching her. She was still in her own world. He wondered how long it would be until she remembered that he was there, too.

Stefan had never seen Katherine like he had today. It just went to show him that even those that seem so strong, even those who try to appear cold and not caring can break down, too.

It was a good five minutes before Katherine turned her head to the side and saw Stefan. It was only then that she remembered she hadn't been alone.

If the situation wasn't such a sad one, Katherine's reaction would have been a little funny.

She saw Stefan and her jaw dropped for a moment. He'd just seen her bawling her eyes out, and she couldn't BS this time and say she hadn't been crying. No one was supposed to see her like this.

Katherine got up but Stefan caught her by the hand. Katherine quickly pulled her hand away, though.

"Just stay," he told her. "It's only me, Katherine. You don't need to hide from me. You want me to keep my mouth shut? You don't wanna talk about it? That's fine. I won't talk, and you don't have to tell me anything. You don't have to go run off. You cried- you're allowed. End of story. It doesn't make you weak. And really, it's only me sitting here with you. It's not like I'm gonna tell anyone."

She looked at him for a moment, wanting very much to just get away, but Katherine eventually sat back down. She said nothing, however. She didn't know what to say. She felt extremely uncomfortable. The only bright-side she could try to convince herself of was that it was Stefan who had been the one to see her and not any of the others. If someone had to see her like this, she guessed it wasn't the end of the world if it was Stefan. Stefan or not, though, she hated the idea of someone seeing her cry.

Katherine hadn't run off, so Stefan would give her credit for that.

Once again, there was more silence, but Katherine eventually broke it, determined to get a different topic in the atmosphere.

"So really, what exactly happened with Elena? You didn't go running off because she missed her brother."

"She called me and then she hung up right away. I tried to call her back but there was no answer, so I freaked out and went to find her. I thought something happened to her. She wasn't at her house, so I freaked out some more, but then I thought she might be at the cemetery, so I went there and I found her. She really misses Jeremy and she wasn't sleeping well. She called me out of habit. She's used to calling me when she can't sleep. I'm good at calming her down. She hung up quick, though. I guess she thought she shouldn't be doing that... I brought her home from the cemetery, stayed with her for a little bit, and I helped her fall asleep. She kept having nightmares before, you know, blood and death and caskets. She's trying to be strong, but she's having a hard time."

"She _is _strong," Katherine said, sighing. Stefan was always going to be in between Katherine and Elena, but even though she often acted like it wasn't the case, Katherine got no pleasure out of Elena's sadness or suffering. She had no desire to see Elena sad or hurt. When it came to Elena in terms of Stefan, in that regard, Katherine could be unkind, but that came from her own love for Stefan. That came from jealousy and hate for the thought that he loved someone who wasn't herself with the same intensity that he had loved her in the past.

In terms of Stefan, Elena was competition. Katherine had no problem fighting for Stefan, but even here Katherine wasn't so cruel. She didn't want Elena to suffer, she just wanted Stefan. If she could have Stefan without her doppelganger being hurt, that would have been ideal. But that wouldn't happen, so if Elena was going to be down and depressed about it, in a fight for Stefan, Katherine wasn't going to lose any sleep. But what Stefan was talking about, what Elena was miserable about was the loss of her brother.

Katherine didn't care about Jeremy one way or another, but he was family to Elena and Katherine could understand the loss of family. She could _beyond _sympathize with Elena for that. And even though Miranda and Grayson had not actually been her parents and it had been close to 2 years, if Katherine remembered correctly, that loss was probably still with Elena. Her actual father, that stupid loser John Gilbert, who Katherine would not ever shed a tear for, was sick and dying. Her doppelganger had a lot of crap to deal with.

Stefan had not expected to hear that from Katherine.

"She's dealt with a lot of shit, and right now I give the girl credit. A lot of girls would probably be complete basket cases, and she's not. The stuff with you, and her brother, and now you again but with Damon thrown in, too, and her loser father being sick- she's probably going a little nuts, but she's not doing a horrible job of keeping herself together."

Stefan just nodded.

Katherine studied his face and she shook her head and rolled her eyes. "You're gonna forgive her, aren't you?"

"I don't know," he said, sighing. "There's so much anger, but I miss her. I shouldn't, but I do. I miss her so much and it's not even like it's been that long."

"She doesn't deserve you," Katherine said, not sugar-coating anything.

Stefan looked at her and was about to say something, but Katherine spoke before he did.

"If you're going to tell me that if she doesn't deserve you then I certainly don't deserve you either, I'm already aware of that, so save yourself the energy."

Stefan didn't respond to the comment because he didn't have the energy to get into this kind of conversation with her. He didn't want to talk about any of it.

"Can I look at the pictures?' he asked her instead.

"You actually want to see them?" she asked.

"Yeah," he told her. "If it's okay with you."

"How about one of them?" she said awkwardly. There were two portraits that she just wanted to keep to herself.

"Okay," Stefan nodded.

"You saw this one already," Katherine said, putting the portrait of her holding Rayna, who was holding a blanket, down on the couch.

"She was a beautiful little girl, by the way," Stefan said, pointing at the picture he'd already seen.

"Thank you," she said quietly, feeling slightly weird.

Stefan looked at the next picture. "Wow," he said. "She really did look a lot like you."

Katherine glanced at the picture again. This was the day she saved Rayna from a thief, the day she gave her the necklace that got passed down through the generations, the necklace that Isobel wore now.

Katherine could tell that Stefan wanted to ask her something, but that he wasn't going to because he had told her he wouldn't.

She could tell him a bit. He'd been good to her, she could tell him a little bit. Who knows, maybe it might even make her feel better.

"I was heading to the town I'd left Rayna in almost fifteen years earlier, the town she lived in her whole life from that point on. I was heading there like I did every once in awhile to check on her and make sure she was living a happy life. I was walking to the town when I heard someone scream. I followed the voice and saw a man attacking a young woman and it looked like he was trying to take something away from her. She was a tough little thing, she tried to fight him off. I ran over and got the guy away from her. I finally saw her face- the girl was my daughter. She was almost eighteen. The guy ran off and I walked her back to the town. I was right. He had been trying to take something from her. A ring. She had a beautiful ring on. She's just got engaged two days earlier. She was happy, and that made me happy. She told me that I seemed familiar. When I left again, I found the guy who was hurting her and I tore his throat out."

Stefan pointed to the necklace that Rayna had been holding in the picture. "That looks familiar for some reason. I feel like I've seen it somewhere before."

"You have seen it," Katherine told him. "Around Isobel's neck. My grandmother gave it to my mother, my mother gave it to me, and I gave it to Rayna on that day. We pass it down through daughters. Eventually it got passed to Isobel's mother, and then Isobel's mother gave it to her. And at some point down the line Isobel will give it to Elena... New topic," Katherine said. That was definitely enough talking about the past. She couldn't do any more of it. It was time to move away from the emotional talk. Time to get Stefan to stop feeling bad for her.

"You want a new topic, go ahead and pick one," Stefan told her.

"Who's handing over his credit card to me, you or Damon?" Katherine asked, grinning a little. "Don't get me wrong, this lovely place is fifty billion steps up from the shit-hole tomb, but I'm still gonna be cooped up here. If I have to be cooped up, I'm gonna have to be able to spend when I get bored- do some online shopping. While I doubt that Elijah's going to be looking into my credit card history, I'm assuming if he ever did do something freaky like that it wouldn't be a great idea for him to see that my card's been active while I'm supposed to be locked away in that lovely little tomb."

Stefan just laughed.

"Trust me, no one wants me to get bored. While you're away at school, playing like you don't already know everything that they're going to teach you, I might just have to call and order some pizza and have the delivery boy for lunch instead, to keep things interesting. I don't think you want me to do that, do you?" she asked sweetly, grinning the whole time.

"No, I wouldn't want that," Stefan said, rolling his eyes.

"See how well I know you?" she said, giving him a wink before getting up.

"Where're you going?" he asked her.

"I want a bit more, but I don't need the whole bag. I'll just have it tomorrow. I'm gonna go throw that back in the fridge downstairs." she said, pointing to the blood bag on the table.

"Don't bother," he told her, picking it up.

Katherine looked at him questioningly.

When he didn't automatically answer, she spoke.

"And what are you gonna do with that?" she asked him.

"Drink it, well- a bit of it."

"Let me guess. You started drinking human blood again because of me, didn't you?" she asked him, sighing."Oh, the things you'll do for Elena."

"You were a threat, or so we thought," Stefan said, shrugging.

"So you wanted to get stronger," Katherine said, knowingly.

"You don't sound happy. Wasn't it you making fun of me for my no-human blood diet awhile back?" Stefan said.

"I was teasing you back then, Stefan. Frankly the way you were about blood was weird for a vampire, but I got why you stuck to the non-human stuff. I know how you used to get out of control. It was smart of you to avoid human blood... Anyway, can you handle it now?' she asked.

"Elena was helping me, it was way easier then. I'm doing okay with a bit of the blood-bags every day now, but everything was easier and better with Elena. I haven't gone off the rails since the last time Elena gave me her blood, though, so I guess I'm handling it decently well," Stefan told her.

"She's a smart girl," Katherine said, laughing with a bit of admiration for Elena.

"What?"

"She offered you her blood. There's no way you asked her for it. Smart girl for offering up her blood to you. If you were gonna start back on the human stuff, from her, you'd have to start using control right from the beginning. You'd never take too much because I'm sure you'd probably kill yourself if you ever did anything to put her in danger. You'd crave her blood because it would taste all that much better because you love her, and if you could control yourself with the human blood you craved more than any other you'd eventually be able to drink the other human stuff without a problem. It was a good idea. You probably needed some more time with her working on that, though...I'm guessing you still de-populate the forest too, right?" she asked him, teasing him about the animal blood.

"I have to. I won't drink too much from the blood-bags at a time. I've been okay with it, but I haven't wanted to take any chances right away with having too much."

"Makes sense," she said. "This works well actually, just give me the rest when you're done."

Stefan made a hole in the bag and started to drink.

He handed the bag over to Katherine after drinking about half of it. "That's more than I usually have."

"So you decided to experiment tonight?"

"You're here. You could have kicked my ass if I took too much and started to get out of control," Stefan told her.

"That's true," she said, before gulping down the rest of the contents of the bag.

"Don't let me have more than what I had right now, at least not for awhile. I'm fine, but if I'm pissed off or not thinking clearly and I go to have some blood- there's a chance, even though I'm pretty sure it wouldn't happen- that I'd take too much for my own good."

"I'll keep you out of trouble," Katherine told him. "Wow," she laughed. "That sounds weird, doesn't it? Me keeping someone else out of trouble."

Stefan laughed, too. "A little weird, yeah," he admitted. "But really, _everything_ is so messed up these days, so when I think of it like that, it's not all that weird."

o-o-o-o-o-o-o-

Tyler was not surprised that he hadn't been able to sleep well. At the most, he'd managed one hour of uninterrupted sleep. The rest of the time he had spent in his bed consisted of trying to fall asleep and thinking about Matt and Caroline.

After many hours he was just so fed up that he got out of his bed and headed for the cemetery.

He might not have been feeling like Matt's best friend the week earlier, but the fact was that he was. They had been best friends for the longest time and Tyler was really missing him right now. He was missing him and he was full of regret and he just wished he could talk to Matt and try to explain some things.

"It's so weird without you here. It doesn't feel right, man. It doesn't feel right at all. I wish you were here, and I'm sorry for the things I wanted and thought about before all this shit happened. I never wanted you gone, not even from town, let alone off the face of the planet... You've been my friend longer than anyone. You were the only one who gave a crap about me a lot of the time. I never said thank you for that- so thank you.

"I feel like I betrayed you or something. I came back here and I wanted Caroline all over again. You had her, and I missed her and I wanted her. I messed up with her and I wanted to make it better... I came back here and I wished she wasn't with you. I wanted you out of the picture because I wanted my shot with her, but I didn't actually want you to go anywhere! I just wanted you and her to be over. I wanted her, but I also just really needed to make things better with her, and I felt like I wouldn't fully be able to do that while you were with her.

"I didn't hate you, but I was jealous. And I feel so guilty. I'm sorry, man. I'm sure you knew, but I'm gonna tell you anyway- Caroline loved you and she made that very clear to me... Dude, I miss you. I miss you and I'm sorry. If there was any way that I could bring you back, I would do it. I haven't really been able to sleep. I think I needed to come here and talk to you. I think I needed to say that stuff out loud, but I'm gonna go now," Tyler said, patting Matt's headstone.

Caroline cringed and inwardly swore at herself as she made a small move that made too much noise.

Tyler's head whipped in her direction, and Caroline tried to act as if she hadn't just heard every word Tyler had said.

She hadn't been able to sleep at all, no matter how hard she tried. She was missing Matt. She had come here to see him and had stayed for about half an hour, and was about to leave just as Tyler arrived. She was nosy and decided to stay hidden and listen to what he had to say instead, and it broke her heart a little. She didn't want him to stay feeling bad. She didn't want him to feel guilty.

"Tyler?" Caroline said, sounding as if she was surprised to see him.

"Caroline, what are you doing here?" he asked her.

"Couldn't sleep, haven't really been able to for awhile now. Came out for a walk," she told him. "You?" she asked.

"Couldn't really sleep either. I think I needed to come see him," he said, nodding at the headstone.

"I came here too, already. I miss him," she said, sighing. "Then I walked some more and then I headed back here."

"You sticking around, or are you gonna head back home?" Tyler asked.

"I'm gonna go back home. My mom will be up soon and she'll probably freak out if she checks in on me and I'm not in my bed," she said, placing a kiss on her own hand to place on Matt's headstone.

"I'm gonna head back too. I'll walk with you."

"Okay," she said.

"Crazy day, huh?"

"You've got that right," Caroline said, nodding.

"Do we have to go back there tomorrow? Is there gonna be another 'everyone together day'?"

Caroline laughed a little bit. "What, are you not ready for another day of all that good stuff?"

"I'm still processing everything. It's all so weird and crazy."

"Welcome to our world," Caroline said.

"I don't know anything about that Luka guy, but I'm guessing he's the one exception, but you know what I couldn't help but think about when everyone was all there together? Practically everyone in that house today has slept with at least one other person there- everyone, including our history teacher! That's so weird."

Caroline burst out laughing. "I can just picture you trying to make sense of who's been with who."

"Elena's mom and Alaric. Elena's mom and John. Elena's mom and Damon. Katherine and Stefan. Katherine and Damon. Stefan and Elena. Damon and Elena-"

"Me and Damon- yuck. I maintain that I was out of my mind at that time," Caroline said, finishing off the list for Tyler. "And you and Bonnie when you were both drunk- hah don't look like you're surprised that I know. Me and Elena are Bonnie's best friends, of course we would know about that, just like I'm _sure_ you told Matt," Caroline said, teasing.

Tyler just rolled his eyes.

"You know, you're not locked into this, right?" Caroline said, more serious. "If you don't want to be a part of our whole little plan thing, you don't have to be. I don't want you to feel like this is something you have to do."

"I'm in, Caroline. I want to help, even with all the craziness that's gonna come with it. And let's be serious here. I'm kind of going to be involved even if I didn't want to be. I don't know of many other werewolves, I'm pretty sure these Klaus and Elijah guys would come for me eventually for their sacrifice thing," Tyler said, whispering.

"I really can't wait until all of this crap is done and those bastards are dead," she whispered back. "I really just want some peace for us all."

"That would be nice," Tyler said.

"It _will _be nice. There's gonna be a party and everything," Caroline said, smiling. "I've already started planning it."

"Caroline Forbes, party planner extraordinaire. Planning to celebrate the death of ancient vampires who want you dead with an awesome party? No problem, Caroline can help with that- she's already planning one. There's no party she won't throw," Tyler said, grinning, but whispering once again. "We should put that on a billboard or something."

Caroline elbowed him as she laughed some more.


	67. Chapter 67

**o-0-o-0-o Thanks to David Fishwick, celia, MusicFlowsWithin, Hooked-On-TVD, Danielle, laugh4life, Raya for reviewing the last chapter. Sorry for the wait, but school is kind of crazy. I cannot wait until graduation lol. Here's the new chapter. I hope everyone will enjoy it. Leave me a review and let me know what you think : ) o-0-o-0-o**

Alaric wondered if the sheriff would actually arrest him if he went through with doing the thing he wanted to do. He thought that she might let him off the hook considering that her daughter was a third of the reason he was seriously considering some violence against his male students. He was holding a stapler in his hand and had the desire to bash it into a good portion of the students' heads.

It was three weeks since Matt and Jeremy died. It seemed as if all the guys decided that today would be the day that it was appropriate to start making the moves on Elena, Bonnie and Caroline again.

None of the girls had forgotten about their lost loved ones and they all still missed them like crazy and carried the pain of their loss with them, but Alaric could tell that they were all finally really trying to make themselves come back to their teenage lives. They were trying to make themselves live life like they used to.

They were trying to make themselves see the humour and fun in things.

The teenage boys of his history class apparently could no longer keep their hormones in check out of respect for Matt and Jeremy, and thought that three weeks was way more than sufficient time for Elena to get over Stefan.

Sure, he was a teenager once. Yeah, he'd had raging hormones too, but Alaric didn't think he had been a creepy little pervert like these guys.

Maybe he was over-exaggerating, maybe they weren't all being creepy little perverts, but he'd become protective of not only Elena, but Bonnie and Caroline, too. He didn't particularly like the way they were being ogled.

The guys were throwing out horrible pick-up lines, looking down the girls' shirts and staring at their butts.

Alaric took a deep breath, and decided against acting like a crazy person.

"Eyes up at the front," he called out.

Tyler walked into the classroom and looked at Alaric.

Alaric nodded in the direction of the rest of the class and rolled his eyes. Tyler turned his attention to the class, and Alaric could have sworn that he heard Tyler growl.

Alaric followed Tyler's gaze and smirked. His eyes were on Caroline and the several guys around her. It was pretty obvious that Tyler had feelings for Caroline.

"Yo!" Tyler yelled. "The man is trying to start the damn class here."

Alaric fought the urge to laugh. Tyler wasn't a fan of watching Caroline get hit on and stared at.

Finally the guys in the class turned around. Elena, Bonnie and Caroline looked relieved. None of them wanted to deal with any of those guys.

About two minutes into Alaric's history lesson, Stefan walked into the classroom offering him an apology for being late.

Alaric turned his head around to see what was going on when he heard someone grunt in pain, and once again had to fight the urge to laugh.

Some guy had still been staring at Elena as Alaric had started the lesson, and his friend saw Stefan walk into the class. He sent a kick in his friend's direction to try to get him to stop staring.

Elena was fair game in the opinions of the boys of the class, but they just tried really hard not to act on their stupid impulses while Stefan was around. Even though everyone knew that Stefan and Elena weren't together anymore, none of the guys really wanted to get caught flirting or staring at her because while Stefan was a nice guy, most of them were a little bit threatened by him, and some of them just didn't quite know what to do with the fact that they still spent a considerable amount of time together at school.

The class went by so slow. Alaric was wishing for the bell to ring just as much, if not more than the students were. He wasn't feeling particularly 'teacher-y' today and he really just wanted to see Jenna. She was coming over to meet him for lunch. He hadn't seen her in a few days and he missed her.

When the bell rang, Alaric gathered his things, ready to leave, faster than the students.

"Okay people, let's go. Let's go. Time to get out of here," Alaric called out.

The last ones in the room were Bonnie, Elena, Stefan, Caroline and Tyler.

"You three," Alaric said to Elena, Bonnie and Caroline. "Just throwing it out there for you- if any of you were to kick someone in the nuts or maybe use some magic and compulsion against the little perverts in this room, you have my absolute approval. It would probably be better than me hitting the majority of my class in the head with my stapler. Now, chop-chop. I need to clear out this room."

"Awww, that's so cute. He's in some kind of protective uncle/dad mode," Caroline said, looking at her two best friends.

"That's what I get for being around you all so much. Now, everyone- out the door," he said.

"You seem like you're in a hurry to get out of here," Caroline said.

"I've got somewhere to be," Alaric told her.

"You meeting my aunt?" Elena asked, grinning.

"I am," Alaric said. "Now hurry up all of you. Get the hell out of here so I can leave. I have a lunch date," he said, serious in his request, but laughing at the same time.

"Mr. Saltzman, you're acting very unprofessionally. I don't think it's appropriate to be talking to us like that. And your attitude- it's not very teacher-like. We don't need any details on your personal life. You shouldn't be talking to us about your date plans. I don't think that's really something that the school board would want," Bonnie said, trying to keep a straight face as she and Caroline purposely blocked Alaric's path to the door, having some fun.

"The school board probably wouldn't want me working with all of you plotting ways to kill things either," Alaric said.

"Okay, come on guys. Give him a break. Move out of the way," Tyler laughed, watching Bonnie and Caroline having far too much fun, blocking the door.

"Make us," Caroline and Bonnie said in unison.

Tyler looked to Stefan, who nodded, and Elena just watched everyone else, amused.

Tyler was standing closest to Bonnie and Stefan was standing closest to Caroline, so each guy grabbed the girl closest to him around the waist and moved her out the door.

"Handy, aren't they?" Elena chuckled, following them out as Alaric shut the door behind them all.

"They are," Alaric said. "Okay, I'm out of here," he told the group, waving as he hurried out of the school.

"See you guys later," Stefan said to Caroline, Bonnie and Tyler as he headed to his locker to grab a book. Elena waved at her friends and followed Stefan. He was going to help her study.

"Lockwood, are you eating with the jocks or are you coming with me and Bonnie?" Caroline asked Tyler.

"I see enough of them at practice, Forbes. I'll hang with you and Bonnie. You two are much nicer to look at," Tyler said.

"And I'm sure that our pervy school-mates will leave us alone for awhile if you hang with us, and we won't have to look at another one of them for awhile or be tempted to use our special advantages against them," Bonnie grinned. "Win-Win situation."

Caroline thought of something all of a sudden and smacked Tyler's arm. "Speaking of pervy-school mates, Stefan told us awhile back that Danny told him all about some nasty little fantasy challenge thing that involved me, Bonnie and Elena-"

"Oh God, you know about that?'

"Yes we do," Bonnie said, rolling her eyes. "The good old 'Let's See If Anyone Can Get All Three of Them to Sleep With Me' lovely little thing."

"Who the hell is the one who ever opened his mouth about the nasty little idea anyway?" Caroline asked.

"I don't remember. And let me make this perfectly clear, me and Matt always told everyone to stay the hell away from all three of you," Tyler told them.

"Even when you were a douche-bag man-whore?" Caroline asked, laughing.

"Yes, even when I was a douche-bag man-whore, as you so kindly put it," Tyler said.

"She words things wonderfully, doesn't she?" Bonnie asked, grinning.

"Absolutely," Tyler said sarcastically. "And what are you two so happy and amused about today?" he asked them.

"Stefan and Elena. He's going to help her study, but she doesn't actually need all that much help. She's just kind of up for anything that gives her some time with him. Me and Caroline and Alaric kind of made it happen. We want them back together, and we know that they miss each other, even if Stefan's hurt," Bonnie explained.

"_Alaric_ is playing match-maker with you girls?" Tyler asked, laughing and shaking his head.

"He wants Elena to be happy. He's sweet," Caroline said. "Leave him alone."

"Why are you so giddy though, I don't see why you think this is going to make them get back together," Tyler said.

"They haven't been alone together in two weeks. Every time they've seen each other there's been someone else there. If they're alone, I guarantee that that somehow the focus will shift from the test and onto them. It's been two weeks since the messed-up Damon and Elena shit. Maybe Stefan's ready to hear Elena out. Maybe they can fix things, or at least get on the road to getting there eventually. They can start at the dance. It's just around the corner," Caroline explained.

"You've got a really optimistic outlook."

"Don't be a downer, Tyler," Bonnie said.

"Stefan and Elena are gonna get back together. It's just a matter of when, and don't you dare think otherwise. They need to get back together and fix stuff soon or else I'm afraid Bitchy Petrova's gonna sink her claws into Stefan again- and oh Good God, I can't tell you how much the thought of that makes me want to puke," Caroline huffed. "That wicked bitch and my totally wonderful Stefan- no, no, no. She'll ruin him and screw him over."

"You know I'm 100% on Team Stefan and Elena, Care, but come on, Katherine's totally in love with Stefan. She's not going to ruin him," Bonnie said, sighing. "And Stefan's not some clueless kid. If anything happens, it's going to be because he wants it to happen and because he allows it to."

"Ugggh, I know," Caroline muttered.

"And _technically_ he's got every right to do whatever the hell he wants."

"I know," Caroline said again. "I like to blame everything on Katherine, and I can't really do that, so let's move on. New topic."

"You people are psycho," Tyler said, watching them in amusement.

"That's why you hang out with us. We're just like you," Caroline said, sticking out her tongue.

o-o-o-o-o-o-o

Damon walked into his house holding a rather large box from Amazon.

"Oh good, it's here," Katherine said, when he walked into the living room.

"This is your stuff?" Damon asked.

"Yep," Katherine said, taking the box out of Damon's hands.

"What did you order?"

"A whole bunch of TV shows. There's not all that much to do and I've got tons of time. I might as well veg out in front of the TV," Katherine said, shrugging.

"Wait a second, please tell me you didn't buy this with your credit card. I know it probably sounds stupid, but what if Elijah's keeping an eye out for that crap."

Katherine smirked. "I already thought about that, Damon. I used Stefan's credit card. Speaking of credit cards, it's time for you to hand over one of yours to me, too."

"Haha, yeah right," Damon said sarcastically.

"I'm not kidding," Katherine said, grinning, holding out her hand. "Hand it over- one with a high spending limit."

Damon raised his eyebrow.

"Number one, you owe me for putting me in the tomb, and number two I don't actually need you to hand your card over to me. I can just as easily take it from you myself. I made you, I can most definitely kick your ass. The request was me being polite," Katherine told him, the grin not leaving her face.

Damon rolled his eyes and pulled out his wallet.

"That's better," Katherine said, laughing. "So, do you actually still live here, or what? I've hardly seen you."

"Don't over-exaggerate. Those first few days I wasn't here, but I've been here for the past week and a half."

"Yeah, creeping in at night and then heading back out when you wake up. You're here to sleep or when Stefan's not around. How much longer are you going to avoid him?"

"Why do you care? The less I'm here, the better. More time for you to be alone with Stefan. I'm staying away as a favour to you. See how kind I am. You can thank me somewhere down the road," Damon said.

"Hah! For me, that's hilarious. You're just being a wuss. You're scared to talk to him," Katherine said, shaking her head.

"What's the point of talking to him? He doesn't want to hear anything I'd have to say. He hates my guts. Why would I want to hear anything he could say to me, knowing that?"

"He doesn't hate you. He's pissed off and he feels betrayed. There's a difference," Katherine told him.

"He hates me," Damon said, ignoring her words.

"You're his brother. He doesn't hate you. He'll forgive you eventually," she said, pulling out and unwrapping a DVD from the box.

"You're wrong, and anyway, who says I want or need his forgiveness, huh?" Damon said stubbornly. "What about him? What about the shit that he's done that he needs _my _forgiveness for?"

"Oh, and what would that be?" Katherine asked him.

"Making me turn in 1864," he answered, angrily.

"He doesn't need your forgiveness for that," Katherine said, as she put the DVD into the player and turned the television on.

"I know he's the precious little love of your life, but how the hell can you possibly say that to me?" Damon asked.

"Because if your situations were reversed, you would have done the exact same thing," Katherine said simply.

Damon just shook his head.

"If you drank human blood first and completed your transition and he hadn't, and he tried to stick with his decision to just let himself die, you wouldn't have let him do it. You wouldn't have let him leave you. You would have been selfish like he was. You would never let him leave you. You would never pick an eternity alone.

"If there was the possibility that you didn't have to be alone, that you could actually still have a piece of your old life, that you could actually have your family with you now that you had eternity- you would have made him turn, too. You saying otherwise is a load of shit. That might work with the Mystic Falls crowd, Damon, but you forget, I knew you long before they did. I know you from a whole other time. Besides Stefan, I think I know you better than anyone. You wouldn't have wanted to be without your brother back then, and I know that despite you both being stubborn asses neither of you is particularly happy not being around each other right now, either."

Damon opened his mouth to voice a pathetic objection, but Katherine cut him off.

"I'm right and that's all there is to it. You _know_ I'm right. Don't bother arguing. No more talking, Buffy's starting. You're welcome to keep me company, but if you're staying, sit your ass down and shut your mouth," Katherine said.

Damon just stared at her for a minute. He was a combination of angry, annoyed, amused and impressed with her.

"What the hell," he finally said. "I have nothing better to do- how pathetic."

He plopped down on the couch next to Katherine and threw his shoes across the room, aiming for a spot next to the door.

Katherine smirked but didn't say anything.

o-o-o-o-o-o-o

"Thanks for this, by the way," Elena said, closing her history book.

"No problem. I don't mind helping you out. I don't really think you needed much help though, you seem to know most of what we need to know," Stefan said.

Elena just shrugged. "So, how's everything going?" she asked.

Elena hadn't been alone with Stefan since the night he brought her home from the cemetery and stayed with her until she fell asleep.

Technically they'd seen quite a bit of each other, but others were always around. It had been awkward between them, and others being around actually helped a lot with that.

Stefan had been conflicted emotionally: Wanting to be near her, wanting to let her explain, missing her. Wanting to stay away from her, not wanting to hear one word in an attempt to give him an explanation, being angry.

Right now, he was feeling only the first three. He didn't really know what to say, though.

"Okay, I guess. Nothing's really new," he told her.

Elena looked down at her hands. _ Awesome conversation. Over in five seconds flat._

"What's new with you? You seeing your dad, a lot?" Stefan asked, finally.

"Same, nothing's really new. I see him pretty often. Thanks again, for making him forget all that stuff he learned. It really is better the way it's going right now."

"No problem," he told her again. "I'm glad it's going well."

Silence again.

"How's Katherine liking the house?" Elena asked, breaking the brief silence that fell over them again, tucking her hair behind her ear. "I'm sure she loves having you so close-by," she said, trying not to let her jealousy seep its way into her words. "I'm sure you guys are bonding again- that's good. That's really nice."

She was aware that there was some hypocrisy in her jealousy, but she couldn't change how she felt. No matter what she had planned when she broke up with Stefan, she always knew that she was going to be jealous of anything having to do with him and her.

Stefan just laughed. _Yeah, she's jealous._ He decided to call her on it.

"You jealous?" he asked.

"_So _jealous," she blurted out.


	68. Chapter 68

**o-0-o-0-o Thanks to David Fishwick, MusicFlowsWithin, TheInstantClassic, Danielle, Sasha R, Anna-Lisa, tee and laugh4life for reviewing the last chapter. I totally love you : ) Sorry for the wait but February was a brutal month for school and this month looks to be the same. Hang in there with me. I'm going to try to get you guys another update in not too long an amount of time. Good news: April will be a better month for updating since I'll be done school and will have more time for this story here that I absolutely love writing. Here's the new chapter. I really, hope that you'll enjoy it. Leave me a review and let me know what you think. I love hearing from you o-0-o-0-o**

Stefan grinned at Elena's admission of jealousy. When she looked at him and saw him grinning she just rolled her eyes.

"You're happy that I'm jealous, aren't you? You like this," Elena said, shaking her head and biting her lip.

"Maybe," Stefan said, shrugging. The grin was still on his face. _She's adorable like this._

_Maybe we can talk now. Maybe we can actually really talk about what happened. He doesn't seem angry today. He's in a good mood. Maybe he'll let me explain what happened with Damon. And he's looking at me. He's looking at me and he's not turning away. Oh God, I miss him so much._

Elena, once again just blurting out what she was thinking said, "I'm jealous, and I miss you _so _much."

It was nice to hear that he was missed, but things weren't that simple, even if he wanted them to be. "Why though, really?" Stefan asked her, unable to just let her say that. "You broke up with me, remember? You wanted me to explore the feelings you insisted that I have for Katherine- and then you went to do some exploration of your own- with my brother." He just had to say it, because as much as he would rather keep things completely light for just one day, he couldn't just gloss over things. He said what he needed to say, but there wasn't anger in his words this time. He had just really needed to say that out loud before anything else was said between them.

"I thought that maybe you'd gone back into your room and read the letter, but I guess not," Elena said, sighing.

"I haven't been able to step foot in that room, yet," he told her. "I don't want to go back in there and picture you with my brother all over again. I don't think I'm ready for that yet," he told her honestly. "What letter?"

"I wrote you a letter. That night I told you I forgot something upstairs, I didn't actually forget anything. I just wanted to leave the letter for you. You wouldn't let me explain what had happened and _why_ it happened. I knew I needed to give you some space, but I needed you to understand things, even if you weren't quite ready to talk to me," Elena said, looking down at the ground.

This was not easy for her to talk about.

"If you could just manage to walk in there for like five seconds, it's on the dresser near the closet. You should read it. _Please_. It'll tell you all the things I can't say right now, because if I go any further into it I'm gonna start to cry- and that's really not something I want to do with all these people around," she said quietly, shutting her eyes tightly for a moment, trying to prevent them from starting to water.

Stefan was about to speak, but Elena just cut him off with a question that she needed to ask him. A question that she hoped would be answered with a response of yes. Even if he wasn't ready to talk or to go read that letter or to forgive her, she needed to at least know this. "Do you miss me? Even just a little?"

There was a silent plea in her voice, a silent plea to hear him give her the answer of yes. He could hear the unspoken plea, and he couldn't give her anything other than the answer she wanted, and not just because of the look on her face or the way her voice sounded. It was because it was the truth. Of course he missed her.

"I've been missing you since the second you broke up with me, Elena. Everything's been screwed up since then, but I _do _miss you. Very much."

Elena took a deep breath and opened her eyes. At least if there was nothing else, at least there was this. He missed her. If he missed her, they still stood a chance somewhere down the road.

She wanted to say something, but was unsure of what exactly that was. The warning bell to remind students that classes were starting up again in five minutes sounded, leaving Elena no time to think of what she wanted to say.

"You better get to your locker. You don't want to be late for class," Stefan said, thankful for the bell. He needed some time to himself right now. He needed to decide if he was going to look for Elena's letter.

"You're right, I should get there soon, while I've still got all those history facts stuck in my head. She'll probably let us start the test right away."

"Good luck," he told her.

"Maybe I'll see you later," Elena said. It was more of a question than a statement.

"Yeah, maybe."

"Thanks again for helping me study," she said, giving him a small smile.

"You're welcome," he said, returning the smile.

"Elena, move your ass," Caroline yelled from across the hall. "Test, remember?"

"I know, I know," Elena replied. "I'm coming," she said, yelling back at her friend. "Bye, Stefan."

"Bye," he said, laughing.

As Elena rushed to her locker, Caroline ran over to Stefan quickly. She looked over at Elena and then back at Stefan.

She didn't say anything to him, she just flashed him a huge smile and gave him a quick kiss on the cheek. Then she gave him a wave goodbye and was at Elena's side walking to class.

Stefan just shook his head and smiled. Caroline just wanted everything and everyone to be fine and happy. Obviously she was thrilled that he and Elena were talking.

"What did you do to make her so happy and what can I do to get that reaction from her?" Tyler asked jokingly, walking over to where Stefan was.

Stefan laughed again and shrugged. "That's just Caroline- inexplicably happy."

"There's a reason that I dropped your ass in the past, Zillio. I wasn't interested then, and I sure as hell am not interested in you now. Walk away," a girl said, clearly annoyed- no annoyed was not the right word at all, that was not a strong enough word.

That girl was Bonnie.

Stefan and Tyler turned their heads and saw Bonnie clench her fists. Bonnie was clearly not in a good mood.

"Come on, Bonnie. We had something good for awhile. Why not try again?" the guy said, catching up with Bonnie, stopping her by grabbing her arm.

"Get your hands off of me, or I _promise _that you're going to regret it," Bonnie said through clenched teeth.

She was not in the mood to deal with this shit. Not with the phone message she just received. Her emotions were all over the place.

Stefan and Tyler started to make their way over to Bonnie and Michael Zillio. Stefan and Tyler moved in Bonnie's direction for two reasons, one was to get rid of the guy who was bothering her and the other was to make sure Bonnie didn't lose her temper and use her magic without realizing it.

"Come on, Bennett. Let's go to the janitor's closet and do what we never did get around to doing when we were together. Let's go have some awesome sex. I bet I can make you scream-"

Bonnie did not let him get another disgusting word out. She slapped him in the face, hard.

She was shaking and she felt like she was going to explode.

"You little bitch," he said, raising his own hand

"Back the fuck off, Zillio," Tyler said, shoving the guy away from Bonnie, not waiting to see what he would have done.

Bonnie was furious and Stefan could feel the energy radiating off of her. Her heart was beating extremely fast. Her hands were shaking and Stefan was fairly sure her magic would start working on its own without her even realizing what was going on.

Stefan took Bonnie's hand and moved her into a corner.

"Bonnie," he said quietly, rubbing her shoulder. "Breathe. Just breathe. Let's try not to give the people in the hall a magic show, okay? Don't let that loser get to you."

Bonnie looked down at her hands and saw that they were shaking. And now that she was paying attention, she could feel how fast her heart was beating.

Bonnie was trying to calm herself down by taking some deep breaths like Stefan told her to when Tyler came over to her and Stefan.

"You okay?" he asked her.

"Zillio's a dirty little douche-bag," Bonnie said, rubbing her temples. "I'm not just freaking out about him. I've got some other crap going on right now and then he had to go be a dirty pig and he completely set me off. I need to get out of here. I just need some time by myself. I think I just want to go home and lie down. I have this period free and next period is cancelled so I'm not going to bother sticking around."

"Are you okay?" Tyler asked again.

"I'll be fine. I just need to go home and clear my head. And you gotta move your butt, Lockwood. Didn't you say you're supposed to meet up with some guy who's potentially interested in joining the football team?"

"Uggh, I forgot about that. Wanna tell me why the hell I'm doing this again?" Tyler asked, shaking his head.

"Because Caroline asked you to," Bonnie said, feeling a bit calmer, grinning. "Caroline asks and you do it. It's sweet," she teased.

"Oh shut up," Tyler told her, laughing a little.

"Get out of here, you don't want to keep your potential team-mate waiting," Bonnie told him. "And thanks for getting Zillio out of my face."

"No worries. You know I've got your back," he told Bonnie. "See you later, Stefan," he said, heading off to where he needed to be.

"You're not okay, are you?" Stefan asked her.

"Not really," Bonnie admitted.

"You wanna talk about it?"

"No, but thanks," she said. "I meant what I said, I need to go home and just lie down and try to clear my head."

"I'll walk you back then, I'm not sticking around for my last class."

"You don't have to, Stefan. Don't worry about it," Bonnie said.

"Let's go," he said, not listening.

Bonnie shook her head and smiled. Stefan really was a nice guy.

"How'd the studying go? You think Elena will do okay on her test?" Bonnie asked.

Stefan grinned. Bonnie was much better at this than Caroline. She kept a straight face while asking and sounded genuinely curious if Elena was grasping the course materials. But at this point, after Caroline's happy reaction a few minutes earlier, Stefan was 99% sure Elena didn't actually really need much help with studying. They just wanted to try to get them alone together.

"I didn't think she needed much help, actually," Stefan said, keeping his eyes on Bonnie, waiting for a slight change in her expression. "I'm sure she'll do fine."

Her mouth turned up a bit in a tiny grin, but it came and went in a flash. If Stefan wasn't paying attention, he never would have noticed.

"That's good to hear. She wants to keep her grades up," Bonnie said, avoiding Stefan's gaze, trying not to grin. She was pretty sure that he knew that whole study-buddy thing was a load of crap.

They walked in comfortable silence for a few minutes before Bonnie finally asked Stefan the question she needed an answer to. "Did you know my mother?"

"That's what's up," Stefan said. _That's probably the main reason she's all wound up. _ "Something with your mother."

"Do you know her, or anything about her?"

"I've never seen your mother, Bonnie. Sorry. Has she contacted you?" Stefan asked.

"I don't want to talk about it right now, but yes. I just needed to know if you knew her."

"I don't. Katherine might know, I'm not sure. I can practically guarantee you that Damon knows, though," Stefan said.

Bonnie nodded her head. She'd call Damon later and find out. On second thought, she'd ask Stefan to tell Damon to come see her later. She knew the brothers still hadn't spoken two words to each other, and at least this was a way to make them start. Bonnie knew that Stefan wouldn't say no to her. He'd pass along the message to his brother for Bonnie, even if he didn't want to talk to him.

"Could you do me a favour, Stefan?" Bonnie asked, as they approached her house.

"Sure," he said.

"I don't really have all that much energy right now. I just want to go lie down. Could you tell Damon to give me a call in a couple hours."

"I can do that," he answered, trying not to sound as un-thrilled as he felt about saying anything to Damon.

"Thanks. I appreciate it," she said as she walked inside her house. "I'll see you tomorrow, Stefan."

"Hope you feel better," he told her, heading to his own house.

Bonnie took off her shoes and jacket and climbed up the stairs to her room. She changed out of the clothes she was wearing and threw on a pair of comfy pyjamas.

Yes, it was only the afternoon, but she had no intentions of going anywhere so she might as well get comfy.

After she had changed, she got into her bed and curled up on her side. It didn't take long now that she was alone for the tears to come. Within a couple minutes Bonnie was crying, and a couple minutes after that she was full-on sobbing.

Her mother's apparent coming return after being a non-entity in her life was just completely messing Bonnie up. She couldn't even remember what the woman looked like. And she couldn't help but be suspicious about why this woman wanted to see her after being away from her for practically her whole life. There was so much anger and sadness inside of her and so many questions running through her head. Bonnie didn't know what the hell to do. All she could do was let the tears fall.

o-o-o-o-o-o-o

Stefan walked into his house and he couldn't help but laugh at what he saw.

Katherine and Damon were sitting on the couch watching Buffy the Vampire Slayer.

Katherine turned her glance to Stefan and grinned. "Wanna join us?" she asked.

"Oh no, no. I'm not going to intrude on the Buffy-Fest. Continue on and have fun," Stefan said, heading for the stairs. "Oh and Bonnie wants to talk to you. She said for you to give her a call later. I think you should probably go see her, though. Her mother contacted her and she's got questions."

"Was that directed at me?" Damon asked, rolling his eyes. Stefan didn't make any eye contact with him.

"Well, out of the two of you sitting there, which of you is the only one that can just get up and walk out of here to go see someone?" Stefan replied, walking up the stairs.

"Can't give me a damn yes or no answer- little asshole," Damon muttered.

Katherine smacked him upside the head.

"TV day with you was lovely, Katherine, but I think I'm done for now," Damon said sarcastically, getting up, heading for the door.

Katherine just shook her head. "Running away again, I see. You're acting like a dumb-ass, Damon."

"I'm not running away, I'm going to see Judgey. And _you're_ acting like a 'bitca'," he said, referencing a line from the episode they just watched.

"Hah! I knew you liked this show. You're already quoting it," Katherine teased.

"God help me," Damon said, walking out the door.

Katherine turned her attention back to the TV, but listened to hear what Stefan was doing upstairs.

He was in the room he'd taken to for the past two weeks and he had just lay down on the bed.

She knew he wasn't going to sleep, which meant that he was probably thinking about something. _Probably Elena. _

Katherine didn't really keep track of the time, but estimated that he'd stayed there for about half an hour before she heard him get up and walk into the upstairs hallway. He was in front of what had become her room and he paused there for a moment, letting out a little laugh.

After a moment or two she could hear him walk down the hall a bit further, and then he stopped again.

He was in front of his room, well, what used to be his room.

He stood there and he didn't move. By this time, Katherine had forgotten about the show that was playing and she was keeping track of the time. Fifteen minutes. Stefan had been standing in front of the door to his old room for fifteen minutes. Standing there and not moving a muscle. There was no creak of the floor. Nothing.

Katherine sighed and walked up the stairs.

She walked over to him and stood next to him in silence for a bit.

"What did you two talk about today?" Katherine said, breaking the silence after a few moments.

He'd spoken to Elena, Katherine was sure. He wouldn't be standing here outside of the room if he hadn't. They spoke and he was probably ready to try to forgive her. Or something like that.

"She's jealous that you're here in this house with me and she misses me. She said she left me a letter in there. She asked me to read it. She says she tried to explain everything that happened in the letter."

"Are you going in there, or what?" she asked him. "You've been standing here for quite awhile. Make up your mind, love," she said, sighing, before turning to leave.

Stefan grabbed her hand to keep her from leaving.

"What, Stefan?" she asked him.

"I just wanted to say something."

"And what would that be, Mr. Salvatore?"

"I just wanted you to know that I'm happy you're here. It's really good having you around. It's nice," he told her.

She gave him a small smile and laughed a little. "You remember that when you forgive your precious little Elena and you two end up back together, forgetting why you two were ever broken up in the first place. You remember that when she comes over in the future and complains about what a bitch I am."

Stefan still had her hand in his. Katherine rubbed his wrist with her thumb a few times before taking her hand away, and heading back towards the stairs.

"One more thing before I get back to my little Buffy marathon- if you're thinking about forgiving Elena, you need to do the same for your brother," she told him, standing a little bit behind him.

He started to turn around to face her and to voice some sort of objection to what she said, but she silenced him with a quick smack on the ass.

He turned around and raised an eyebrow, shaking his head. Katherine gave him a small grin and shrugged before walking back down the stairs.

o-o-o-o-o-o-o

Caroline and Elena walked out of class, just having finished their test.

"What's the verdict, E?" Caroline asked. "Success or failure on the test?'

"I can't tell you how much, because I have no clue, but I'd say success," Elena told the blonde happily.

"Success on the test and success on the Stefan front. Good day. Good day," Caroline said cheerily.

"Let's not get ahead of ourselves Care," Elena said. "I don't know what's going to happen. I don't know if he's really ready to be able to fully-"

"Shush. We need to think happy thoughts," Caroline ordered as they left school.

Elena knew it's not exactly what Caroline meant by thinking happy thoughts, but her mind wandered into the not so distant past and recalled some very happy memories.

As she and Caroline walked past the little ice cream shop Elena remembered the last time she had been there with Stefan and she smiled.

_She had got an extra large ice cream that day, greatly overestimating how hungry she was. She was full and satisfied and still had half of it left. She had been feeling playful and had been trying to get Stefan to relax even though he had insisted that he was totally fine. She hadn't believed him, though. _

_Elena remembered grinning before throwing the remaining contents of the ice cream cup at Stefan. He'd looked at her with a grin of his own, silently telling her that he'd indulge her in her little game. _

_She'd gotten ice cream all over his shirt and some in his hair. _

_He let her get her laughter at the situation out of her system before pouring his cup of untouched ice cream over her head._

_She had shrieked and launched herself at him. "You're so mean," she said when he caught her in his embrace. _

_He laughed as the ice cream slid down her hair and onto her face. _

"_You started it," he told her, kissing her and moving her backwards. _

"_What are you doing?" she asked in between the kisses she was returning._

"_Getting us the hell out of here. I think this is the perfect excuse for a shower," Stefan said, taking a look around to make sure no one was looking. _

"_I was thinking the exact same thing," Elena told him, laughing. _

"_Hold on to me. We're not doing this the slow way," he told her, using his vampire speed to get them back to his house and up into one of the showers in practically no time._

_Their clothes were on the floor and they were under the pouring water within a ridiculously short amount of time. _

_After laughing and loving and groping and moaning, the two finally washed the ice cream out of their hair and just sank into the tub portion of the shower area. _

_Elena leaned back against Stefan's chest and closed her eyes. _

"_I love ice cream," Stefan whispered in her ear. _

"_You didn't even eat any of yours," Elena said, laughing. _

"_I don't care if I didn't eat any. Ice cream led to this. Ice cream is awesome in my book," he told her, playing with a piece of her hair._

"_I can't disagree with that," she said happily._

"Earth to Elena," Caroline said. "Oh man, you were totally having some sort of sex memory or something, weren't you?" she said, laughing at her friend.

"Shut up, Care," Elena said, unable to keep from chuckling.

Caroline stuck out her tongue while Elena let her mind wander some more. They had so many good memories and she hoped that she and Stefan could make some more.


	69. Chapter 69

**o-0-o-0-o I'm back! Classes are done (hopefully forever) and I've just got some exams to deal with now, so I've got some more time. Thanks a bunch to iwantbirthdaycake, David Fishwick, MusicFlowsWithin, tee, Marie, celia, Hooked-On-TVD, TheInstantClassic, Raya, Danielle, laugh4life and RainySmithCullenSalvatore X for reviewing the last chapter. You all rock. Here's the new one. Hope you'll like it. Leave me a review and let me know what you think. Oh and just a note of reminder in case of any confusion. In this story it's not Bonnie's mom who is a Bennett, it's Bonnie's dad. I established Bonnie's dad being the Bennett before the show told us which of her parents was actually a Bennett o-0-o-0-o**

_I don't think I can start this in any other way than by saying that I'm sorry. I am so unbelievably sorry for what you walked in on. We were drunk and stupid and selfish. I know that you must be thinking that I'm such a liar right now. I told you that I wasn't breaking up with you to go run to your brother, but that looks like exactly what I did._

_I want you to know that even if my intention was to leave you so that I could be with Damon (which it wasn't)- I would not have jumped in bed with him so fast, and I would never have slept with him in your bed because even if you don't believe anything else, believe that I cherish and respect the love that you and I share._

_Things have been so unbelievably messed up this past week. I broke up with you, and besides burying my parents and brother, that was the hardest thing I've done. I meant what I said to you last week, Stefan. The reasons I gave you when I broke up with you- they were the truth. I didn't have any other secret agenda for the break-up. I believed that you still had feelings for Katherine, and it hurt me to think that I had to share you in any way._

_Besides my feelings, though, honestly, I just wanted you to actually be able to figure things out. Like she pointed out today, you and Katherine never actually had an ending._

_I broke up with you and broke both your heart and my own. And then later that same day, we found my brother, Matt and Bonnie's dad dead. My world collapsed and it was sadly hilarious how much I wanted and needed you that night. I broke up with you, but I needed you like crazy._

_I'm aware of my huge amount of selfishness where you were concerned from that night and until the funeral. You were nothing but wonderful to me. You were there when I needed you without question, even after I ended things. As the days passed I missed you more and more, and I'd question myself for breaking up with you._

_The days passed and I just got sadder and angrier. Me, Care and Bonnie were in so much pain and I hated it. We were all miserable over the people we lost, and I was also miserable over you. The funeral happened and I can't even tell you how much I wanted to run to you- how I wanted you close to me. I know you would have been there for me because that's how wonderful you are._

_You try to take care of me even when I don't deserve it at all. I couldn't let myself run to you, though, because I swore to myself before the funeral that I would start to be strong and would remember that we weren't together anymore._

_We had the funeral and I was messed up and miserable, and for some reason I wanted to ask Katherine something, and Damon did too, but you were already there to see her._

_Elijah had come out of the tomb and saw me and Damon, and told us to come in so we could hear something. He told us to stay quiet while he made Katherine talk. I stood there and I listened. I stayed longer than Damon did._

_I listened to her talk, and my heart broke for Katherine. I kept listening and then she started talking about you. I couldn't stop listening. I was getting my glimpse into 1864. It was interesting and jealousy-inducing to hear all about the two of you._

_The time went on and you two kept reminiscing and you hadn't said a word about still being in love with her, and my frustration was growing. I missed you so much and wanted you so badly. I felt stupid for breaking up with you, because I missed you and you kept insisting that you loved me._

_You said you didn't know if you still loved Katherine, and it drove me nuts because I needed you to do something to sort of justify my decision to break up. I needed to hear you say something that could let me tell myself I wasn't the world's biggest dumbass for ending things between us._

_My frame of mind was just not right. I was hurt, and jealous and annoyed. I can't really properly explain to you what was going on inside of me, except to say that I was a mess. I left the tomb after you said that you had loved Katherine so much in the past that you gave her your mother's ring._

_I left and everything just came at me together all over again. The you and me stuff, the deaths, John being sick, Isobel popping up in my life, what happened to Katherine- the fact that I exist because some guy violated her over 500 years ago- I can't get that out of my head, even now. All of that was just making me crazy and my head was just hurting so much._

_I kept missing my brother and I really felt like I was going to go crazy. And then my phone rang. It said that Jeremy was calling me, and I almost completely freaked out. I thought someone was playing a sick joke on me. But then I remembered that Jeremy hadn't had his phone on him when we found his body. He had lost it, and someone found it, trying to get hold of someone so the phone could be returned._

_I felt even worse after I got off the phone, and I just so badly wanted to forget everything for awhile. I wanted and needed some peace. I needed to forget about my brother being dead. I needed to forget about you and how much I loved you. I needed some silence inside my head. _

_I wanted to forget, so I went home with the intention of getting drunk out of my mind. I wanted to get wasted. I got home and I was pissed off because there was no alcohol anywhere. I headed over here because I knew you guys would have some._

_I came here and I accomplished my goal. I got wasted. I don't remember too much besides the fact that even though I got drunk, I didn't get you out of my head. I was drunk and you were on my mind, and I just wanted to be near you._

_I went in your bed so that I could feel your presence, but I wanted to forget you so badly. It just hurt, everything hurt. I don't know how long it was until Damon came home and we did what we did._

_He was drunk, too, Stefan. He wasn't trying to hurt you, I swear. He was messed up like I was, and drunk and in love with me. And I was drunk and in love with you, and trying desperately to get you out of my head before I went nuts._

_I used your brother to try to forget loving you so much. It's disgusting and wrong, I know. I hurt the both of you. I told him what I'm telling you, Stefan. Me and him were a mistake, and I know that probably means very little to you at this point, but it's the truth._

_I consider your brother to be a great friend, and he kind of feels like family to me. He's important to me, but I'm not in love with him._

_You know what's funny? I broke up with you because I thought that you had feelings for Katherine, but right now, knowing how much hurt I caused, seeing how you can hardly look at me, I would give just about anything to have you back. And I would just keep my damn mouth shut about the Katherine stuff._

_I'm not going to lie, I still think you have feelings for her, but if you told me you didn't, I swear I'd drop it because right now, all I want is for you to still love me and to forgive me._

_I never want to share you in any way, but right now, if you could love me again, I wouldn't say another word about Katherine. You feel something for her- fine. I'll deal as long as you can still love me after today._

_I am not and have never been in love with Damon. I've never felt the way I feel about you with anyone else. I'm never _going _ to feel the way I do for you for anyone else. You're the love of my life._

_I messed up. I messed up so badly. I'm so sorry that I hurt you. I never meant to hurt you. I miss you so much already and it hurts. I know you're not ready to talk about any of this with me, so I'm just going to put this letter in your room. I know you won't be coming in here again for at least a few days, possibly a lot longer than that. I just hope you understand and believe me when you do come across this. I'm sorry, Stefan. I love you__._

Stefan closed his eyes as he came to the end of the letter. He didn't know how he was supposed to react. He didn't know what he was supposed to feel to this letter Elena wrote him two weeks ago.

"You finally went in," Katherine said, walking out of the bathroom after her shower, wrapped in a towel.

Stefan only went into his room long enough to get Elena's letter. He was in and out in a second.

"You gonna go run to her now and forgive her for everything?" Katherine asked, rolling her eyes.

"I don't know what I'm supposed to do. I love her, and miss her so much. There's no point trying to deny that, but I don't know what I'm supposed to do. Am I the world's biggest idiot if I forgive her? Does that make me a complete dumbass? Is it pathetic if I say I think I might be able to move passed this, that I'm ready to forgive her, that I want her back?" Stefan said, rubbing his head.

"As I'm sure you'd remind me in about two seconds flat, I'm not really in a position to say anything other than 'no' to answer your questions. You knew about me and Damon back in 1864 and you stayed with me anyway. It didn't make you love me less. I want to tell you that you shouldn't forgive her, because I honestly don't think you should, but it's totally hypocritical. I'm aware of that," Katherine said, sighing.

Stefan looked down at the letter again and his mind wandered.

"Let me see that stupid letter. Let's see what's got you all conflicted," Katherine said, holding out her hand.

"No," Stefan said, shaking his head. "It's private."

"Oh come on," she said. "Hand it over, love."

"No," he said again.

Katherine grinned as she grabbed the letter out of his hand.

"Katherine, give it back," Stefan said tiredly.

"Nope," Katherine said, laughing, walking away, and starting to read it.

"Seriously, are you 5?" Stefan asked, following her to get the letter back. "Just give it to me."

"You want the letter? Come get it from me. See if you can catch me," she said, flashing him one last grin before speeding off.

Stefan rolled his eyes, but after a moment he took off after Katherine anyway.

Katherine ran and read at the same time, and that was no easy feat at all. She stopped for a second to make the reading easier. She could hear Stefan running after her now, so she picked up the speed once again.

"I can't believe I'm chasing you because you stole my letter right now," Stefan said, speeding around, looking for Katherine.

Katherine let out a laugh at Stefan's statement.

"You know I can catch you now, right? I'm just as fast as you are now. You can't use vamp speed against me anymore," Stefan said, laughing a little despite his earlier annoyance, as he made his way around the house, trying to get her.

"You're welcome by the way- for your speediness," she called out, still running. "You still can't catch me, though, vampire speed or not, not unless I let you."

"Cocky much, Katherine," Stefan said, rolling his eyes.

"I've been running for over 500 years. I know how to stay out of someone's grasp," she replied, running some more and scanning the letter.

She stopped moving when she came across a certain sentence Elena wrote and she shook her head. She continued reading and came across another thing that made her shake her head. She didn't really know why, but reading that part just made her tired.

"Told you I could catch you," Stefan laughed, speeding in out of nowhere, pinning Katherine to the ground.

Katherine looked up at him and smiled, putting what she read out of her head for a moment.

_You're too gorgeous for words, did you know that, Stefan?_

"Give me the letter back, or else I'm not going to get up," Stefan told her, looking happy with himself.

"I'm fine here for awhile," she said, grinning. "I don't always have to be on top, Stefan. You should remember. I'm good with the give and take. There were plenty of times when we were positioned like this, granted we weren't wearing any clothes at the time."

Stefan just shook his head.

Katherine just laughed. "And you know if I really wanted to, I could throw you off quite easily. You can stay where you are for a minute, I don't mind. Gives me a chance to stare at you for a bit."

Stefan fought the urge to laugh. Katherine always had something kind of great to say, even if she was partially annoying him.

"Give me the letter Katherine, come on," he finally said.

She allowed herself to remember what she read, and she took a deep breath.

"Tell Elena to get over it," she said, serious now.

"Get over what exactly?" Stefan asked.

"I told her two weeks ago not to feel bad or whatever the hell it is she's feeling about her existence. If you tell her, maybe it'll actually sink into her thick skull. I loved my kid. I hate _how_ I got her, but I didn't regret _ having _ her. She was the best part of me. She grew up, she fell in love, and she had a beautiful baby, and then that baby grew up and she had a baby of her own and it continued on like that, and as time went on, and my kid got older and older and eventually died, and I got worse and worse- became more of a heartless bitch, there would still be reminders walking around that there was a time when I did something right, something good...What do I have left of my daughter, Stefan? What's left of my mother?" Katherine said, sighing.

"Elena and Isobel," Stefan said, moving a piece of hair out of Katherine's face.

"Exactly. So even though she's the most annoying thing in the world, and even though I probably would have snapped her neck a long time ago if she wasn't related to me, there hasn't been a day where I've said that I wished Elena didn't exist, not one day, Stefan."

Stefan was looking at her intently, and he was about to speak, but Katherine interrupted him before any words got out.

"Don't look at me like that, and don't talk. Don't go making this more than it is. I don't love Elena, I hardly _like_ her. The point is that I'm not and _have_ not been cursing her existence," she told him, looking away for a second.

Stefan didn't believe Katherine. She cared about Elena, he knew that she wouldn't admit it, though. She probably fought against the feeling, and he was practically 100% sure that was because of him. Katherine could say what she wanted, but Stefan knew that even though Katherine wasn't Elena's biggest fan, that she did care in her own way. He wanted to tell her that her words were bullshit, but it died in his throat. This wasn't easy stuff to talk about for her, he knew that. He wasn't going to push her. He knew that she just gave him more information than she would have given anyone else. He let the subject be closed.

"So, love," Katherine said, going back playful and flirty. "Unless you and I are about to get naked and naughty like we used to do so often, I think it's probably time for you to get off of me now."

Stefan rolled his eyes and Katherine smirked.

Stefan got up and offered her his hand. She took it, grinning as she got up. "Always a gentleman," she said. "Here's your letter back. I don't doubt that these floors are clean, but I think I'm gonna go wash my hair again, anyway."

"Since you insisted on reading that, what do you think?" Stefan said as she started to walk away.

"I think Elena's an idiot, but I know that you love her. You wanted an explanation as to why she and Damon hooked up, and she gave it to you. She regrets what happened and she loves you still. She said Damon was a mistake. She wants to try again with you, even though she still thinks you feel something for me. That's what you wanted to hear, right? She told you the things you needed to hear. My opinion isn't going to make any difference to you. You've already decided to forgive her, Stefan," Katherine said, knowing that Stefan wanted to repair his relationship with Elena. "You don't really care how I feel about it."

Stefan stared at Katherine for a moment, feeling something pulling at him. He didn't know what he was supposed to say.

Katherine let out a tired laugh, looking at Stefan. He looked as if he wanted to say something, but she was pretty sure that he wasn't sure what that was.

"I can't wait til this business with Klaus and Elijah is over with so I can get out of here and take a break from the Stefan and Elena angsty love show," she said.

"What did you say?" Stefan asked, not liking what he just heard.

"What part?"

"You're not really leaving, right?" Stefan asked her. "You're not just gonna leave town when this is all over, right?" he said, sounding as if he did not want that to happen at all.

"Why wouldn't I?" Katherine asked, a bit of happiness rising inside her. It was pretty clear that Stefan didn't want her to leave.

"I think Isobel's going to be sticking around, I know you two are kinda close," Stefan said.

"If I want to see Isobel, I can always come back for a visit. That doesn't require me _staying_ in this town," Katherine said.

"What about me?" Stefan said awkwardly.

"What about you?" Katherine asked, grinning on the inside.

"Aside from when you're being all kinds of inappropriate, it's been fun having you here. You're pretty much the only reason I've smiled at all before today for the past two weeks. You're good company. I like having you around."

"Would you miss me?' Katherine asked.

"I would," Stefan admitted. "I want Elena back, she's the one person I'm in love with, but if you were to leave town now I would miss you. I've spent more time with you in the past two weeks than anyone else, and it's been pretty cool. Whenever I used to think about you or us it was always about love somehow, but you know what I seemed to have forgotten? Even though I fell for you hard and fast back in 1864, before anything ever happened between us, even though I always felt more for you than that back then- you were my friend, and there was something special in that all on its own. You've always been good at making me laugh and smile and you've reminded me of that recently."

"If I left, you'd be missing a friend?"

"I would," Stefan told her.

_I don't think that's all it is, love. You might not be in love with me right now, but I'm pretty sure you feel something more than just friendship. Your reaction was pretty strong. I'll take what I can get for now, though. This is more than I was expecting. _

"We could still keep in contact, you know? I could come by once in awhile to visit, that doesn't require me to stay here in Mystic Falls. We don't have to live in the same city to be stay friends," she said, just to see what his response would be.

"That's true, but it would be better if you stayed around even after we finish with this Klaus and Elijah business," Stefan told her.

"Ask me to stay, then, Stefan," she told him, looking him in the eye.

"I don't want you to leave town when this madness is over. I want you to stay. Will you?" he said.

Katherine stuck her tongue out at Stefan. "I'll think about it," she said, giving him a wink before heading back upstairs.

o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o

Bonnie hadn't stayed in her bed for too long. She got up and out of her bed and headed back downstairs, face full of tears and body full of anger. Bonnie was shaking with emotion, and the lights in her house were going a little crazy because of it.

She didn't give a crap about the lights, she was on a mission. She started in the living room, pulling out the boxes with the photo albums inside and then she stomped down to the basement to grab the rest.

If there was one thing that the Bennett house had a lot of, it was photos. And a huge amount of those were in the basement. Bonnie lugged up several heavy boxes, working up a sweat. There was an ache in her arms from the heavy lifting, but she ignored it. That didn't matter. She had something to do.

Damon stood by the front door going unnoticed by Bonnie. The girl was emotional and seemed singularly focused on one thing. Damon could not only see Bonnie's emotion manifested, but he could feel it, too. The lights were going crazy- brightening and dimming, brightening and dimming, and the walls were vibrating, too. Damon was leaning against the wall and could feel it shaking.

He wasn't quite sure what to do as he had a feeling that making his presence known right now would piss Bonnie off and probably earn him some sort of pain at her hands. Also, she was crying and that was still something that was more foreign than not to see.

He wasn't quite sure what to say and he knew that Bonnie would not want to be seen like this, so he just remained where he stood and watched the young witch take a seat in the middle of her living room floor and pick up one of the many photo albums surrounding her.

Bonnie took a deep breath and wiped her eyes before opening the first photo album. Damon heard her mutter several things as she looked at the pictures on the first page. It took him a couple seconds to make out what she was saying, but he figured it out- she was identifying the people in the photos she was looking at.

"Dad. Grams. Baby Me. Dad. Grams. Baby Me. Some sort of great aunt. Dad's cousin. Grams. Baby me. Grams. Baby me. Grams. Baby me. Grams. Baby me. Dad. Baby Me. Grams. Baby me. Grams. Baby me. Grams. Dad. Grams' cousin. Grams. Baby me. Grams. Baby me. Dad. Baby me."

Bonnie let out a laugh that was angry and sad. "I don't know what you look like, but I know you're not in here. You stayed for awhile. You were here for awhile, yet you couldn't take a friggin' picture with your kid. What kind of loser mother are you?"

Damon felt bad for Bonnie, but could do nothing but watch as she went through more pictures.

"Grams. Baby me. Miranda and Grayson. Baby Elena. Jenna. John. Liz. Care's dad. Baby Care. Vicki. Matt's mom. Baby Matt. Mrs. Lockwood. Baby Tyler. Grams. Baby Me. Dad... Nobody I don't know here. You're still not in any of these pictures," Bonnie said, laughing some more as if she were talking to her mom.

Bonnie looked at some more pictures and then just pushed the albums away from her.

"I hate you!" Bonnie screamed, and Damon thought for a second that she'd noticed him, but she hadn't. She was screaming about her mother.

"You leave me before I'm old enough to remember what your damn face looks like, and you never even called me or anything- not once. Not one damn time! And now you call me after being gone for practically my whole life, saying that you're coming to see me and that we need to talk. Well, I don't wanna see you, and I don't wanna talk to you. Selfish bitch. I don't know what you want, but I know that I don't trust you already," Bonnie muttered, wiping her eyes.

Damon decided to make his presence known now before she noticed him herself. Damon reached for the door, opening it, making it seem like he just arrived.

"Judgey, haven't I told you to lock your doors? We don't want any pervy psychos just walking in here whenever they want," Damon said, flashing her a grin.

"Says the pervy psycho," Bonnie commented, laughing a little, not turning to face him yet, though. She wanted to make sure all traces of any tears were gone.

"Whatchya doing, witchy?" Damon asked, coming over to where Bonnie sat, joining her on the ground. "Feeling nostalgic?" he said, picking up one of the many photo albums.

"You here out of the blue? Or did Stefan tell you I needed to see you?" Bonnie asked, not answering him. She hadn't expected him to be here this soon.

"I was gonna come bug you later anyway, but Sir-Hates-My-Guts, a.k.a Stefan, said you needed to talk to me, so here I am, earlier than I had planned. He said something about your mother. What's up Bon-Bon?"

"My mother called me today and left me a message on my cell phone. I don't even know how she got my number," Bonnie said, getting up and gathering the photo albums. "She said she's coming to see me and that we need to talk. #1, I don't want to see her or speak to her, and #2, I don't even know if this woman really is my mother or if this is all something really weird... I don't remember what she looks like, Damon. For all I know, some stranger with an agenda could be coming to see me... Do you know what my mother looks like? Would you recognize her if you saw her? Do you know anything about her?"

"I know what she looks like. I can tell you if whoever shows up is just messing around with you. I kept an eye on the Bennett line- I can tell you if the person who called you is your mom or not, but I don't really know much about her since she's not a Bennett. I know she left when you were really young and I know she wasn't really grade A mommy material, but that's about it," Damon told her.

Bonnie nodded and took a breath. "I just have a bad feeling about this. I haven't even seen the woman yet and I don't trust her at all."

"You think your mom's here to screw you over somehow?" Damon asked.

"I just don't know why she would pop up in my life now, you know?" Bonnie said, shrugging. "If she wanted to step up, if she wanted to be a part of my life, where the hell was she two weeks ago when I was burying my father? I guarantee that she knew he passed away. She's in contact with some members of the family because otherwise she wouldn't have known my cell phone number," Bonnie said, trying to stay calm, trying to keep from getting emotional again as she picked up more albums and put them back into boxes.

"When is Mommy Dearest showing her face around these parts?" Damon asked, taking the box Bonnie was holding from her, and picking up some more.

"I can put those away myself, Damon," Bonnie said, pointing at the boxes.

"No worries, I got it. Where do they go?"

"Remember when you snooped around in my basement and found Katherine's clothes and all those stakes?" Bonnie said, reminding him of his previous nosiness. "That goes on the shelf right next to where those were."

"Aww, I remember the day I told you that I knew you were hiding that stuff. The morning after our little road trip to Mortontown. Great memories, huh?" Damon said, smirking.

Bonnie rolled her eyes at him as he brought the boxes down to the basement. "No more talk about that. Like I told you at least once before, we don't ever actually need to talk about that stupid day again."

"You're so dramatic, Judgey. Anyway, what are you gonna do about your mom?"

Bonnie did not want to think about the woman anymore. She knew that Damon could tell her if the woman that was coming was her mother or not and that's what she needed to know. Until the woman showed up, though, Bonnie wanted to get her out of her head. Thoughts of her mother only made her angry and tired, and she had other things to be worried about instead.

"Enough with the mom talk. How's the rehab for your Elena addiction going?"

Damon snorted. "Oh, it's going wonderfully," he said sarcastically.

"You still pining away like a lovesick idiot?" Bonnie asked, a combination of teasing and sympathy in her voice.

"Let's not even go there right now, Bennett. We don't need to go into detail about how pathetic I am."

"Okay, teasing you is kinda fun, but I'm not trying to be mean right now. Keep doing whatever it is you need to do to get Elena out of your system. I think Stefan and Elena are gonna get back together soon, Damon. I really hope for your sake that you can get over her, because I know you're not gonna want to go through with being in love with your brother's girl all over again," Bonnie said.

"I still love her. I'm trying to change the way I love her because we've seen that it's no good for anyone, but it's not easy, you know? And I'm sure I've said this fifty million times before, Judgey-"

"The Damon confessions stay between you and me," Bonnie said, finishing for him, grinning a little.

"Bonnie Bennett what the hell is this I'm hearing about Michael Zillio, you, the janitor's closet, and a bunch of scream-worthy sex?" Caroline asked loudly, walking through Bonnie's front door, followed by Elena, who Damon hadn't seen.

"Bon-Bon, what have you been up to? Naughty, naughty girl," Damon said, smirking. "I never took you for a sex in school type of girl."

Bonnie gave him a small aneurism for the hell of it.

"Okay, okay. Sorry, Bitchy Bennett," Damon muttered.

"I'm saying this once and then all talk about that dirty little douche bag is over. He was hitting on me. I told him I wasn't interested. He kept running his mouth. He came over and grabbed my arm and I told him to get his stupid hands off me before I made him regret it. Then the pervert said that I should join him in the janitor's closet so we could do what we never did when we were together. He suggested that we go have some awesome sex that would make me scream. That's when I slapped the taste out of his mouth. Then he raised his hand like he was gonna hit me back, and that's when Stefan and Tyler came over.

"Tyler shoved him away from me. I was about ready to make something explode, preferably Michael's head, so Stefan took me to the side to try to calm me down and keep me from putting on an impromptu magic show for the people in the halls. The end," Bonnie said.

"Sorry you had to deal with that pervert, B. I know you can take care of yourself, but are you okay?" Elena asked.

"I'm fine, but now that you guys are here I guess I'll tell you what's up. I've got some pretty big news," Bonnie said.

"And now that girl-talk time has begun, I think it's time I take my leave," Damon said, his eyes falling on Elena.

Damon's eyes met Elena's and she gave him a weak smile. He tried hard to return it, as he quickly made his way towards the door.

"Thanks for coming, Damon," Bonnie said.

"Yeah, yeah," Damon said. "Call me if she shows up."

"I will."

"See you later ladies," Damon said, shutting the door behind him.

"Call him if who shows up. What's going on, B?" Caroline asked.

"Apparently my mother is coming to town."

o-o-o-o-o-o-o

Damon hadn't seen Elena in two weeks. He hadn't seen her since she told him that she wasn't and never would be in love with him.

Seeing her hurt. There was still a sting there. His feelings were still there. It was going to take more time for him to get over her. It wasn't surprising though, because Damon didn't really do the whole 'letting go' thing wonderfully or quickly, not at all.

Seeing her had just completely thrown him off, and he kept thinking about what Bonnie had just said about that guy raising his hand to her, and with those two things combined, Damon was not in a good mood at all.

Bonnie was not helpless by any means, he knew this because he had his ass kicked by her and her magic on several occasions, but the thought of some guy trying to hurt her pissed him off and made him want to teach the punk a lesson.

The combination of seeing Elena and hearing about that little punk Michael Zillio, wasn't a good one.

Damon headed for Alaric's house and walked right in when he got there.

"Hello to you, too, Damon," Alaric said, watching Damon head towards his bookshelf.

"What's up, Ric?" Damon said as he scanned the shelf.

"What are you looking for, man?" Ric asked.

"Do you have a yearbook for last year?"

"Yeah," Alaric said, going over to the shelf, handing it to Damon.

Damon flipped through the pages until he got to the one he was looking for.

"What are you looking for, exactly?" Alaric asked.

"I don't think I should tell you. You're a teacher. You're supposed to watch out for students, and I'm going to find one and kick his ass. There he is," Damon said, finding the picture he was looking for. "So that's what the little loser looks like. Alrighty Ric, I'm off to have some fun. Thanks for the help."

And Damon was out the door just as fast as he had come in.

Damon headed for the high-school and found Michael Zillio fairly quickly. Damon kicked his ass and left him with a warning under compulsion to stay the hell away from Bonnie.

Damon walked back home quickly, wanting a drink.

He was greeted in his living room by a very unexpected site.

"What the hell," he mumbled as he laid eyes on a little girl who couldn't be more than 5 years old.

When the girl noticed that she wasn't alone and saw Damon standing not very far from her, she let out a shriek of terror that brought Stefan running down the stairs faster than someone could blink.

"What the hell is going on?" Stefan said, looking around for the source of the shriek.

When the little girl saw Stefan, she shrieked once more.

Her face was soaked with tears.

Katherine came flying down the stairs with her towel almost falling off. She had been in the shower washing her hair again.

"What the fuck was that?" she said, looking around like Stefan had just done, trying to see what was wrong.

Damon prepared to cover his ears, expecting the child to shriek again, but it never came.

Instead of shrieking in terror when Katherine came down the stairs, the little girl ran to her and grabbed on to Katherine's leg as if she was holding on for her life.

Stefan and Damon looked at Katherine questioningly, but she only shrugged. She had no idea what the hell was going on.

The brothers were motioning for Katherine to say something to the girl, to find out who she was and what was going on.

She took a breath and leaned down to face the girl, but she did not get much of a glimpse of her face since she was looking down.

"Hi," she said, keeping her voice as soft as possible.

The little girl had closed her eyes, but opened them when she heard Katherine's voice again.

She didn't respond, instead, she threw her arms around Katherine's neck. Katherine tried to look at her again, but her eyes were closed once more and the girl's face was buried in Katherine's chest.

"Everything will be okay. You think you can tell me what's wrong? Can you tell me your name?" Katherine asked, rubbing the child's back.

It had been quite awhile since she had a child this close to her. It was slightly awkward for her, but also weirdly not. There was just something about this child. There was a feeling of familiarity, but Katherine had no idea who the kid was.

Katherine could feel the little girl's body relax. "Will you talk to me?" she said, trying to get a better look at the child.

The little girl buried her head in the space between Katherine's neck and shoulder, as the three vampires in the room exchanged looks of complete and utter confusion.


	70. Chapter 70

**o-0-o-0-o Thanks SO much to celia, David Fishwick, RainySmithCullenSalvatore X, True Potter Diaries, TheInstantClassic, MusicFlowsWithin, Raya, Hooked-On-TVD, tee, Marie, F girl, laugh4life and Anna-Lisa for the reviews. I love hearing from you all. Exams are done so I'm free! Yay : ) Here's the new chapter. I really hope you'll enjoy it. Leave me a review and let me know what you think. Reviews give me the motivation to write o-0-o-0-o**

Isobel felt awkward as she walked into the small diner. She had a feeling that she wasn't going to leave this place as the happiest camper in the world. She had hardly spoken to Alaric since she'd come back to Mystic Falls this time around, other than when he had pulled her off for a private chat two weeks earlier.

They had major history. They had been married. They had loved each other. She still loved him, part of her always would, though she tried very hard never to show it or even think about it. She was almost completely certain that a part of him still loved her, even after all the wrong she had done. Love was still there, but nothing was ever going to come of it again. He wouldn't let it and neither would she.

Being around him made her feel weird and it made her feel horrible for her various misdeeds where he was concerned. She hoped whatever the hell he'd asked her to come here for wouldn't take very long. She didn't want to have to deal with anything emotional because she wasn't really up for having to put on a show today to act like she didn't care.

She spotted Alaric sitting at a booth close to the back. She took a deep breath before walking over.

"What am I doing here, Ric? Why'd you ask me to meet you here?" Isobel asked, taking a seat across from him.

"Hello to you too, Isobel," he said.

"What's going on, Ric?"

"I'm going to do something, soon, I think," Alaric said, trying to keep eye contact.

"And what's that?" she questioned, a bad feeling coming over her.

"I'm not here to ask you if it's okay with you, but I want you to know before I do it. I don't know if you'd give a crap about this, but whatever, I just didn't want you to find out randomly out of the blue later on." Alaric was having trouble keeping his voice steady. He knew this wouldn't be particularly fun, but he didn't expect for it to be like this.

Isobel knew what he was going to tell her now, and something inside of her sunk. It shouldn't have, but it did. She knew what was coming so she tried to prepare herself to keep her expression neutral.

"What are you trying to say to me, Ric?"

"I'm going to ask Jenna to marry me," he blurted out.

There were the words, the words she knew he was going to say. And even though she knew he was going to say them, she still felt them hit her like a truck. She knew that she had no right to feel anything. She ruined her marriage to him. She ran off and she cheated. And she loved him through both.

Isobel was fairly certain she was able to keep her face from betraying any emotions, but she didn't trust herself enough to talk for at least thirty seconds after hearing his words.

"That's nice," she finally said, sticking with only a couple of words.

"I'm in love with her. She's been good for me, Iz. I haven't really been the same person I used to be, and she's helped with bringing me back to that guy. She makes me happy. She makes me laugh. She makes me smile."

"Good for you," Isobel said, clearing her throat. "I don't know why you're telling me this, though. This has nothing to do with me," she said, acting like this didn't matter to her.

"I loved you with everything I had. When we were together, it was only ever you for me," Alaric said, reaching out for her hand. It was awkward, and he hadn't expected to be reaching across the table, but he did.

Isobel pushed his hand away, now looking at the wall, or anywhere really, besides at him.

He ignored her pushing his hand away, and reached over again. This time she didn't pull her hand away.

"You know that. You know I loved you, Isobel."

"What's your point, Ric? The past is in the past. I don't care about what you felt or how you feel now. You're gonna get married. Good for you. I don't give a shit. Have a good life. I don't wish any bad on you, but I don't care about what you do with your life one way or another," she told him.

"Bullshit," he said. "You're _really _good at playing the bitch, acting like you don't care- but you do care. I know you do."

"What the fuck do you want from me, Ric?" Isobel said, pulling her hand back and clenching it into a fist.

"You're the first person I've told. We're not married anymore, but you were the first one I had to talk to. I want you to be happy for me. I don't know why I need to, but I need you to know that I'm finally going to move on, really move on. But I wanted you to hear it from me because I need you to know that this doesn't mean that I'm forgetting about what we had, and this doesn't mean that if one day you're finally ready to really tell me how everything got so messed up between us that I won't care or I won't want to hear it. You told me what led you to do the things you did- what caused you to leave, to cheat on me, but there's more to it. There's something you haven't told me, and even when I start a new life, I will always want to know what happened. If you're ever ready to tell me, I really would like to hear it.

"We may be over, and I may have tried hating you, but honestly, even after I knew about Damon and the whole vampire thing, I still loved you. Despite everything, there's always going to be this part of me that loves you. Our time is over, but it won't ever mean nothing to me."

"If you've found happiness, that's great for you. You deserve that," Isobel said, closing her eyes for a second, giving Alaric a second of honesty, and trying not to think about him mentioning something that she'd kept from him.

He was right, there was something she never told him. And she didn't have any plans to tell him about it, back then or now. She just tried to keep it out of her mind, and she really wished he hadn't reminded her.

"We were happy once. I know we were. I'm not imagining that. You loved me once upon a time, even if you don't anymore. Let me hear it. Say the words for me, please. Tell me that it was real. Let me hear it from you. Let me remember and be happy so that I can make some peace and put it away without conflict and anger- so that I can start fresh and new with Jenna, without old sadness and insecurity finding a way to creep in."

Isobel wished she hadn't come here. She didn't want to deal with this shit, not one bit. But she owed this man something.

"After today, I don't want to hear another word about the past from you. You will never bring up this conversation again. I am not the woman you used to know, Ric. I don't have her feelings, but I do remember them. I loved you, and we _were_ happy. You didn't do anything wrong. Things didn't fall apart because of you. You were perfect. You can start anew, Ric. You don't have to be insecure about anything. You can move on. You can be happy," she said calmly, sliding out of the booth.

She walked out the door and did not look back. If she did, she knew she wouldn't be able to keep the emotions going through her off of her face.

Isobel loved two men in her life: John Gilbert and Alaric Saltzman and she was losing the both of them.

She'd shut the door on a reunion with either of them long ago. But it didn't mean that it didn't hurt like hell to know that Alaric was finally, _really _moving on. She knew he was dating Jenna, but him marrying her was something completely different. It was serious, and it would finally really mean that Alaric wasn't hers anymore.

She was losing Alaric, and sooner or later she was going to lose John, in a more literal way. She had no clue how long he had left. She didn't know when he'd be leaving her, too. He was going to die, and she had no idea how to deal with that. Though she let him think otherwise, did so many things to make him think otherwise, she still loved him. Even though she'd also hated him at times, Isobel had loved John for over 19 years.

She felt like shit and wanted to get her mind off of the men in her life. She was going to go see Katherine and hope that she could take her mind off of things.

o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o

"Are you okay, B?" Elena asked, squeezing her friend's hand.

Bonnie told Elena and Caroline about hearing from her mom and how she was apparently going to be coming to see her.

Bonnie cursed herself inwardly for being weak and allowing herself to cry over a woman who she didn't know, a woman who hadn't cared about her daughter for almost all of her life.

"I wish I never heard from her. I hate that this stupid woman can just mess up my emotions like this," Bonnie said, wiping her eyes.

"You know what, Bons?" Caroline said. "You don't have to see her if you don't want to. You can call that number back and just tell her to stay the hell away from you and that you don't wanna talk."

"I don't think that'll work," Bonnie said.

"I'll wait here with you until she shows up. I can _make _her leave if you want me to," Caroline said, sending Bonnie a grin.

"There you go, B. A solution to the problem," Elena said, smiling, giving Bonnie a nudge.

"Is it horrible that I actually kind of like the thought of you compelling her?" Bonnie said, laughing a little. "How do I go from strong witchy chick to messed up little girl so fast? Some woman I don't even know should not be able to do that to me."

"But she's your mom. Moms have some kind of power over us. I mean, look at Isobel. When she popped up for the first time, I was so messed up. And as much as I sometimes try to keep her at a distance and try to act like I don't care very much- I... I... really want her approval," Elena said, her voice shaking a bit, thinking about that.

"And look at me, I'm supposed to be all tough now right? I'm a vampire," Caroline said, pushing a piece of hair out of her face. "It's just like Elena said, though, I want my mom's approval so badly. And I-"

There was a knock on Bonnie's door and Caroline stopped talking mid-sentence.

Bonnie went to the door, taking a deep breath. She had a feeling that her mother was on the other side.

Bonnie cleared her throat and opened the door.

Her breath caught in her throat when she saw a woman who looked quite a bit like herself, just older, standing there.

Bonnie and the woman ended up staring at each other for a minute in total silence and Elena was pretty sure that her friend was not going to remember that she wanted Damon to verify her supposed mother's identity.

Elena pulled out her phone and snapped a picture of the woman so that Bonnie could later know for sure if this woman really was her mother.

Truthfully though, Elena was willing to bet everything she owned that this woman was Bonnie's mom. Bonnie looked quite a bit like her.

Elena knew that she resembled Isobel, but Bonnie looked like the woman at the door even more so.

Both Elena and Caroline walked over to Bonnie and placed a hand on her shoulder, trying to give her some sort of comfort, and this brought Bonnie back to her senses.

"Can I help you with something?" Bonnie finally said, trying to remain calm.

"Look at you, all grown up. Beautiful girl. Not surprising though, you came out of _me _after all," the woman said.

Bonnie said nothing.

"Let me introduce myself. I'm Abby. If you haven't figured it out yet, I'm your mother. And I'm going to take a guess and say that you stayed pretty close with those you were close to as a very young kid- and say that standing there with you are Elena Gilbert and Caroline Forbes."

"You remember their names, that's nice," Bonnie said, taking a deep breath.

"Aren't you going to invite me in? Or are you gonna keep your mama out here on the doorstep?" Abby asked.

"You've got to be fucking kidding me," Bonnie said, her hand shooting to her mouth.

Bonnie lived in Mystic Falls, supernatural capital of the world, and when she heard someone asking for an invitation into a home her mind almost always screamed VAMPIRE! Bonnie didn't want anymore vampires in her life even though she had varying degrees of relationships with some of them, one being one of her two best friends.

_Calm down, just because she asked for an invitation it doesn't mean she's a vampire. Touch her, that's all I need to do. I'll know if she's a vampire or not if I touch her._

Bonnie made a move forward and Abby thought that she was making a move to give her a hug so she reached out and pulled Bonnie in.

Bonnie couldn't move. She hadn't expected this. She didn't think the woman was going to touch her, let alone hug her.

Bonnie figured out two things. One was that this woman was not a vampire, the other was that she was going to either start bawling her eyes out or set something on fire in about ten seconds if the woman did not let go of Bonnie because her emotions were all over the place.

"Let go of me, please," Bonnie said.

Abby let her go.

Bonnie invited the woman who was apparently her mother inside and locked the door afterwards.

"Okay, I'm going to get straight to the point. Bonnie, I know you're a witch. Caroline, you're a vampire. And Elena, I know that you're the Petrova doppelganger."

All three girls' jaws dropped.

"I'm here because of Klaus. His friend or partner or whatever he is, Elijah, is here in town keeping an eye on things, but Klaus wanted another source of information, just to make sure everything is as Elijah says it is."

Bonnie opened her mouth to speak, but Abby cut her off.

"I know you're about to ask me if I'm a witch. The answer is no. I'm 100% purely a normal human, but I know about the supernatural. I've known about vampires and witches for years and I drink vervain everyday-"

Elena cut Abby off. "You came here, not to see your daughter, but because Klaus told you to?"

Bonnie sent Elena a small smile and shook her head, telling her friend not to even bother. Bonnie could tell that Elena was upset that the woman didn't come here because she wanted to see her daughter.

"I never wanted kids, Bonnie. I thought of having an abortion more than once, but I just couldn't do that. I didn't want a baby, but I couldn't just end your life. So I had you and I was here for awhile, but I just couldn't do it. I got married too young. I was living a life that wasn't making me happy and I had to leave one day. So I did. I left this town, I left you and I left your dad and I didn't look back.

"It's not that I didn't care, I always hoped you were doing well. I always hoped that you were happy, I just couldn't be around to make sure of it. I didn't want to be a mom, I still don't. I won't lie... Klaus found me, knowing who I was and thought that I would be the perfect person to collect information for him. He knows that you're my daughter," she said, looking Bonnie in the eye.

"He thought that I could come here and that you'd open up to me or that I might notice if anything seemed to be off and that I'd go running back to him and tell him everything I found out. He told me all about this curse thing and wanted me to act as another set of eyes for him for a few days. Basically he just wants to make sure that everything is as Elijah says it is, that all of you are dumb and oblivious. Something tells me, though, that you know exactly what Klaus and Elijah have in store for you guys.

"Klaus thinks that I'm compelled and that I'll be his good little spy, but I've been drinking vervain for years-"

Abby didn't get to finish her sentence because Bonnie unleashed some of her magic on her. The woman went limp and fell to the ground.

"Help me get her to the couch please," Bonnie said to Caroline, getting to grab one end of Abby while Caroline took the other.

"I got this," Caroline said, moving Abby on her own.

"What are you doing, B?" Elena asked.

"Finding out if we can trust her," Bonnie told her friend, as she put her hands on Abby's temple.

"Should we call Damon so he can verify that she's your mom?" Caroline asked. "I don't think there's any need for it though, babe. You look a hell of a lot like her."

"Yeah, call him. I want to be sure," Bonnie said as she closed her eyes and began to concentrate.

Caroline pulled out her phone and dialled Damon, but he didn't pick up. She tried calling him again, but there was still no answer. She tried a third time and was about to tell Bonnie that Damon wasn't picking up, but Elena silenced her before she spoke. Bonnie had begun chanting and Elena didn't think it was a good time to interrupt her.

o-o-o-o-o-o-o

"You don't need to be scared. No one is going to hurt you here. I won't let anything happen to you, okay?" Katherine said, trying to keep the child calm and hoping to get her to talk.

The girl mumbled something, but Katherine couldn't make out what.

"Okay, you know what we're going to do?" Katherine said, rubbing the girl's back again. "You and me are going to go in another room, okay? Just me and you, no men. Does that sound okay to you?"

Katherine could feel the little girl nod.

Katherine figured that the little girl was scared of men. It wasn't a giant leap after hearing her shriek after seeing Stefan and Damon.

"Okay, then. Come on," Katherine said, lifting the girl up into her arms, hoping to see her face soon.

The child gasped and winced. She was clearly in pain.

"I'm sorry," Katherine said immediately, putting her down. "Did I hurt you?"

She hadn't held a kid in a long time, but Katherine was sure that she was being gentle. She was aware of her super strength, but she was being extra careful.

"Not you. You didn't hurt me."

"But somebody else did?" Katherine asked.

"Yeah," the child said quietly.

"I promise that that's not going to happen again, okay?" Katherine said, trying to keep herself calm. She couldn't stand the idea of someone hurting a kid. People like that deserved to die in her book. It was just disgusting and wrong. And for as many people that Katherine had killed, she had never once harmed a kid.

The girl nodded again, still looking down. "Can we go in that other room now?" the girl asked.

"Yeah," Katherine said.

"Can I hold your hand?"

"Absolutely," Katherine said, putting her hand out for the girl to take.

The child took her hand and the two headed for the kitchen. Katherine made sure to grab her cell phone as they headed to the kitchen.

When Katherine and the little girl left the room the brothers turned to each other, asking "What the hell?"

"Do you know anything about this at all?" Stefan asked.

"I walked in and saw the kid, that's it. I'm friggin' clueless. You don't know anything? What is she doing in our house?"

"I have no clue. I guess we left the door unlocked. Someone must have dropped her off or something," Stefan said, spotting something on the ground.

It was a knapsack. "This must be hers," Stefan said, picking it up.

"Anything in there that says who she is?" Damon asked, walking over to Stefan.

"Did you get a look at her face?" Stefan asked.

"No not really. All I could really tell is that she was a girl. She can't be more than five," Damon told him.

"The kid is terrified. Something bad happened to her," Stefan said, sighing.

"Judging by her reaction to us, I'm guessing that it was a guy who was responsible for whatever bad shit happened. She was clinging to Katherine for dear life. It's kinda funny in a sad way. How many people have been scared shitless because of Katherine, but then look at this kid- Katherine makes her feel safe."

"She's good at that, actually," Stefan said, his mind going back to 1864.

"How would you know?" Damon asked.

"It was one time back in 1864. Remember when that little girl went missing? She'd gotten kidnapped."

"And you went out looking for her," Damon said, remembering.

"Yeah. Katherine came with me. We found the kid. She was scared, but Katherine calmed her down. She made the kid feel safe. She killed the guy who took the girl and she came back with blood on her lips and the kid wasn't scared at all, she thought that it was juice."

There was a moment of silence and then Damon spoke. "Are you speaking to me again?" he asked his brother.

Stefan rolled his eyes. Damon just had to ruin it and remind him of everything all over again.

"Just shut up and help me look through this bag," Stefan said, opening up the knapsack.

In the kitchen, the little girl was finishing up a cup of water.

"Can you do something for me?" Katherine asked. "Can you tell me your name and show me your pretty face?"

"Okay," the little girl said quietly. "My name is Selena," she told Katherine, finally looking at her properly.

"That's a very pretty name," Katherine said.

When she saw the child's face she understood why there was a feeling of familiarity.

"Oh my God," Katherine said.

"Do you know me?" the girl asked.

"I haven't met you before, but I think I know exactly who you are," Katherine said, giving the girl a smile.

The girl looked back at her, smiling too. "Are you my sister?" the child asked hopefully.

Katherine was about to tell her that she wasn't her sister, but the girl spoke again. "They said I have a sister. That's why they left me here. They said she lives in this town. My sister is Elena Gilbert. Are you Elena? Are you going to take care of me now? Can I stay here with you?"


	71. Chapter 71

**o-0-o-0-o Thanks so much to David Fishwick, laugh4life, RainySmithCullenSalvatore X, Raya, MusicFlowsWithin, celia, Danielle, West of the Boulevard, Marie and TVD-FFN-NIN for the reviews. Here's a new chapter. The reviews were wonderful and motivated me to write, but this chapter took longer than I had intended it to because of a recent tragedy. I hope you'll enjoy it. Leave me a review and let me know what you think o-0-o-0-o**

Elena and Caroline watched in fascination as Bonnie worked her magic on Abby and asked her important questions.

"Are you really my mother?" was Bonnie's last question Bonnie asked, and "yes" was the reply.

Bonnie moved away from her mother and took a deep breath when she was done.

"She may be a shitty mother, but at least we can trust her," Bonnie said, trying to laugh.

Elena wished that she had the power to make all of this better for Bonnie. She wished that there was something she could do to make Bonnie feel better. Bonnie was putting on a brave face, but she wasn't fooling her best friend, Abby was causing Bonnie pain.

"When she leaves, Bonnie, just let her leave. You _make_ her leave. Don't keep her with you. Don't let her linger in your head. You understand me?" Caroline said.

"Listen to Care, B," Elena said, scooting over to Bonnie. "Forget about this woman. It might be hard, but you'll make yourself forget because I will not have you sad and broken-hearted over a woman who is crazy enough to have not wanted you, and horrible enough to tell you that she considered aborting you. You don't need her. You have plenty of people who love you, and you did perfectly fine without that woman. You turned out wonderfully, and she had _nothing_ to do with that."

Bonnie tried to smile, but it was hard. "You two are never allowed to leave me, okay? I think I've said that before, but I really mean it," Bonnie said, quietly.

"I thought we had already established that it's going to be us three for eternity, babe," Caroline said to Bonnie.

"Seriously Bonnie, pay attention," Elena said, sticking her tongue out.

Bonnie let out a real laugh this time.

"What the hell did you do to me?" Abby asked, sitting up, sounding as if she had just woken up from a long sleep.

"I found out if anything you said could be trusted," Bonnie said. "Apparently it can."

"I won't be here for long. I'll be out of your hair soon enough. I came here because Klaus made me come to town, and I thought I would give you a heads up about him and his buddy Elijah being sick bastards, but I can see you already know what's going on. I'm no mother, Bonnie. I'm not the woman who is going to take a bullet for you, but you should know that you've got nutcases coming for you and your crew and that I'm rooting for you to annihilate them," Abby said, looking at Bonnie.

"What are you going to tell Klaus?" Elena asked, glaring at Abby.

"I'm going to tell him that everything is pretty boring around here and that no one has any idea that Elijah is being anything but totally sincere with his promise to protect everyone and take Klaus down. He'll be happy and he'll stay way from here until the time for the sacrifice comes."

"Do you have anything else you want to say to Bonnie?" Elena asked Abby, trying to reign in her dislike for the woman. She hadn't even offered Bonnie her sympathies after losing her father.

"There was something I needed to tell her, yeah," Abby said, looking a little bit uncomfortable now.

"And what's that?" Bonnie asked, looking forward to the second this woman left her presence.

"I need to ask your friends something first."

"What do you want to ask us?"

"Bonnie has a place in both of your homes if she were ever to need it, right?" Abby asked.

"Of course," both girls said.

"Good," Abby said, taking a deep breath. "Because I'm selling this house. It's something that I have to do. I know you're not going to be happy about this, and I don't blame you, because I would be pissed off too. I'm selling this house, but you'll have a place to crash with your friends" Abby said.

Bonnie's jaw dropped. Honestly, she had never thought about ownership of the house. This was Bonnie's house. She never really thought to ask about any of the technicalities.

Her shock turned into fury real quick. "My grandmother is dead and so is my father. This place is a connection to them, to my childhood, to a whole lot of great memories. It's obvious you don't give a shit about me, and that's fine, but are you actually heartless enough to take my home from me?" Bonnie yelled.

Caroline and Elena weren't all that surprised when several things happened all at once. Glass shattered, lights went nuts and the house started to shake. When Bonnie's emotions were raging, sometimes she just got so caught up in them that she wouldn't even know what was happening.

Abby shouldn't have been shocked because she knew witches. She knew that emotions were often tied with powers and that in emotional situations it wasn't uncommon for a witch's power to go a little crazy, but it was different actually seeing it for herself.

"Bonnie, try to calm down. I know that you're mad, but I'm not trying to hurt you. I need the money. And I have every right to sell this house. Your dad and I bought this together. Both of our names are on the papers for this place. He's gone. I'm allowed to sell this place. I'm not doing anything wrong, Bonnie. It's not like you're going to be out on the streets. You'll stay with your friends, and I'll give you some of the money I make off the house."

Caroline had the overwhelming urge to snap this woman's neck. "You are some extra special kind of super-bitch," Caroline said, loud and clear, making sure that Abby heard her perfectly.

"You won't be giving her _some_ of the money you make off the house," Elena said, truly disgusted with the woman standing in Bonnie's living room. "You'll be giving her half. It's your right to sell the house, but like you said, you and Mr. Bennett bought this place together. If he was still here, half of the money would be his, but he's not here anymore and he left everything to Bonnie. That means that Bonnie gets half of whatever you would sell this place for."

"It doesn't work like that, Bonnie's not 18-"

Bonnie cut her mother off before she could say very much. "Daddy already left a nice amount of money, which is being held in trust by Jenna Somers until I turn 18, that's what will happen with the money you make off this house. You're not going to get away with taking my home from me. I'll make sure I get what's rightfully mine... Now, what you're going to do is walk out the door you came in through. You're not going to object because you know that what you just pulled is some pretty low shit. I don't care about your claims to this house. Until you sell this place, this is _my _house. Now get the hell out. If you don't leave on your own, trust me when I tell you that I can, and will make you leave myself."

To everyone's surprise, Abby grinned. "That's my girl. You get your attitude from me."

"Get out," Bonnie said one more time.

"I'll see you later," Abby told her, walking out the door.

o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o

Katherine didn't know what to say. She didn't know how to answer the little girl.

Selena stared at her happily and Katherine smiled back at her while trying to think of what she could say.

Katherine was brought out of her thoughts when Stefan and Damon entered the kitchen.

"We found something in her bag," Stefan said, handing Katherine a piece of paper.

Selena practically jumped off of her chair when Stefan and Damon came into the kitchen and moved even closer to Katherine.

Katherine sighed. "They're not going to hurt you. I _promise. _They're not bad. They're nice."

"How do you know?" Selena asked, biting her lip, looking at Katherine intently.

"They're my friends. I've known them for a long time," Katherine told her, hoping that she would forget about the question she'd just asked her.

"Really?" Selena asked.

"Really," Katherine said. "Not all guys are bad. Some are bad, but not all of them. I know that somebody hurt you. It was a man, wasn't it?"

Selena slowly nodded her head. "Stefan and Damon would never do that. They don't like guys who do that. In fact, I'm pretty sure if they knew who hurt you, they'd go kick his butt with me," Katherine told her.

"Really?" Selena asked again.

Katherine nodded.

Selena was silent for a few moments before speaking again. "Do you think I should say hi to them?"she asked Katherine.

Katherine laughed. "I think that would be nice."

"Okay," Selena said.

Stefan and Damon didn't actually really hear any of that little conversation between Katherine and Selena because they were too busy staring at the little girl. They didn't doubt that the short letter they just read was truthful now, actually looking at the little girl's face.

The letter had said that the child had a sister in town, a sister named Elena Gilbert. Seeing the child's face made them believe that that was a very real possibility.

This little girl resembled Elena and Katherine. Someone could look at them and figure out that they were related. While the child looked like those two, there was no question as to who this kid's mother had to be. Selena was practically the spitting image of Isobel.

When Stefan got over the shock, he pulled out his phone and sent a text to Elena asking her to come over quickly.

Damon elbowed his brother.

"What?" Stefan said.

Damon nodded in the little girl's direction.

Stefan looked at her and smiled. She seemed to be calmer now.

"Hi," she said quietly, giving him a little wave.

Stefan's smile widened. "Hi," he said back. "You feeling better now?"

Selena nodded.

"That's good," he said.

"Do you have cookies here?" Selena asked.

"Actually, I think we might. I'm pretty sure the trio stocked the cupboards with junk food for when they are here," Damon said, going to check the cupboards.

"Do you like chocolate chip?" he asked.

"I love chocolate chip."

"Here you go, then," Damon said, handing her the box of cookies.

"Thanks," she said, immediately digging in to grab a cookie.

When she was done, she turned back to Katherine again, and asked her previous question once more. "You didn't answer me before. So, are you my sister? I hope you are. I really like you."

There was something special about a child's words. They could really get to you, and Selena's words just did. Those words were nice to hear.

"I really like you, too," Katherine told her. "I need you to wait a little bit before we talk about that, though."

"Why? It's really easy, all you have to say is one word, just one," Selena said, touching Katherine's hand.

Damon leaned down to be at eye-level with Selena. "You two will talk about stuff later, but for now you're going to go to sleep. You're going to rest," he told her, compelling her.

Selena's eyes closed immediately.

Katherine felt a rush of relief go through her. She couldn't answer anything yet. She knew that the girl was related to her, but no one knew why she was brought here. She doubted it, but what if Klaus or Elijah were somehow using Selena. They needed to be sure that they had nothing to do with the little girl.

"Stefan, can you go get a blanket for her?" she asked, picking Selena up and bringing her over to the couch in the living room.

Stefan was back with a blanket and pillow by the time Katherine put Selena down.

"Thanks," Katherine said, covering the girl up and putting the pillow under her head.

"Okay, so I think it's time we discuss the new addition to your little Petrova clan," Damon said, joining Katherine and Stefan.

"Hold on," Katherine said, going back to grab her phone.

She dialled Isobel's number, needing to speak with her. There was no answer, however. She hung up, frustrated.

"Call Elena and Bonnie. Both of them need to be here," Katherine said, running her hand through her hair.

"I already sent a message to Elena to get here as soon as possible," Stefan said.

Katherine called Isobel again, and there was still no answer. "Where the hell is she?" Katheirne muttered.

Katherine's question was answered when Isobel walked into the Salvatore house.

Isobel walked by Stefan and Damon without a word, grabbed Katherine's hand and pulled her into the kitchen. She hadn't noticed the sleeping child on the couch.

"Hello to you, too. How lovely to see you again," Damon said sarcastically.

"Trying to tempt the Salvatores?" Isobel asked, looking at Katherine's towel-clad body.

She didn't even wait for an answer or let Katherine get a word out.

"He's gonna marry her. He called me and asked me to meet him, and he told me that he's going to ask her to marry him. I _hate _it," Isobel said, sitting down.

"We're talking about Alaric and Jenna?" Katherine asked.

"Yeah."

"Sorry babe. That sucks. It really does because I know you still have feelings for him, but we have something more important to talk about- _someone."_

"Is Elena okay?" Isobel asked immediately.

"_She's _fine," Katherine said. "We need to talk about your other daughter, though."

"No, we don't. I'm already feeling like shit. I don't need to go into a full-on depression," Isobel said angrily. "Why would you bring her up?"

"I'm not trying to make you sad, but some major shit just went down. We need to talk about that baby," Katherine said, feeling guilty for upsetting Isobel about this.

"What is there to talk about, Katherine? She died. She died almost immediately after I gave birth to her. Why the hell do you want to make me think about that?" Isobel asked.

Stefan and Damon were listening from the other room.

"This is important," Katherine said. "I've got my own dead daughter issues. You really think that I'm trying to be an insensitive bitch right now? I will explain things to you very soon, okay? But I need you to tell me some things first," Katherine said calmly.

Isobel sighed, but finally spoke after a minute of silence. "I had her name picked out really early on. When I found out that I was pregnant, all I could do was think about Elena and how I missed out on everything with her... I was excited about the baby. I was going to do everything right. I could take care of this baby. I was a grown woman. I wasn't a sixteen year old girl anymore.

"I was going to call her Selena. I've always liked that name, but Elena's the reason I picked it. Her name would always be flashing in my head whenever I thought about naming the new baby. She was always on my mind. One day as it was flashing in my head, I decided on Selena as a name. It's a name I've always loved, but what got me was that you can't have the name Selena without 'Elena' being in there. We don't pronounce it the same way, but I liked the idea. It's like I could have had a little bit of Elena with me while I got to love and take care of my second kid," Isobel said, trying to keep her voice steady as she looked away from Katherine.

"I never told Alaric about her. I found out that I was pregnant when I was away for work. I was going to tell him just before heading back home. I was so busy with work and research, I didn't pay any attention to my period, and I put on very little weight until later in the pregnancy. I went 4 months not knowing that I was pregnant, and then I went for four months without telling Ric. I didn't want to tell him until I could be home with him when my work was done. I was supposed to be home with him when she was born. We were supposed to have a month to get ready for her together, but that didn't happen.

"I went into labour on the day I was supposed to go back home. It was a month early. One of the ladies I worked with, a friend, used to deliver babies. She was helping me pack everything into the car when it happened. She delivered the baby and I passed out right after. When I woke up, the baby had already died. The poor woman was crying, she kept saying that she was sorry. It wasn't her fault, though. She told me the baby died. She didn't think I'd be able to bear looking at the baby, so you know..."

Katherine finished the sentence for Isobel. She knew that this was a painful subject. "She buried the baby for you."

Isobel nodded. "I couldn't do it. I couldn't look at another baby of mine that I'd never get to have. Why did you want me to tell you this?"

"I needed to try to make sense of something. And now I need you to stay calm. There's a beautiful little girl in the next room that resembles me and Elena, and is practically the spitting image of you. She feels familiar to me, just like you did when I met you. I felt it with Elena, too. It's like my bloodline calls out to me in its own little way. I have a connection to that girl, and it's got to be because of you.

"I've kept track of everyone, Isobel. You and Elena are all that's left of my bloodline, and I know that Elena didn't get knocked up and give birth in junior high. That leaves you. Come look at her. She's got to be yours. She looks so much like you, right down to the eyes. Do you know whose eyes you have? You have Anton's eyes, and she has those same eyes. This isn't a coincidence," Katherine said.

"Stop it. My baby died. I'm not going to look at any kid," Isobel said, feeling like she might collapse.

"Her name is Selena," Katherine told her. "Just come look at her. I'm not crazy, Isobel," Katherine said, pulling Isobel into the living room and over to the couch where Selena was sleeping.

"Look at her and tell me that that girl isn't yours. You won't be able to. Your friend lied to you. Your baby didn't die," Katherine said, urging Isobel to look at the girl.

One would think that vampires didn't have a heightened sense of hearing if they took a look at the Salvatore house. Stefan, Damon, Isobel and Katherine didn't notice that they weren't alone in the house.

Caroline had sped both Elena and Bonnie over to the Salvatore house as soon as Elena received Stefan's message. All three girls had been in the house for a couple minutes already, but no one seemed to notice.

Elena was listening and watching intently. She had listened to Isobel talking while she was in the kitchen, but she had her eyes on the sleeping girl the whole time.

Elena didn't know how to describe was she was feeling. It wasn't just one thing. There were so many thoughts and emotions right now, too many to properly identify.

Elena finally took her gaze off the little girl for a second to take a look at Isobel's face. When Isobel looked down at the little girl, her expression changed. She had no words of argument for Katherine. Isobel stared at the child for a good two minutes before closing her eyes and taking a deep breath. "I've got to go," she said suddenly, heading for the door.

"What are you doing?" Katherine asked.

Isobel stopped in her tracks when she saw Elena standing in front of her.

Elena noticed that Isobel's eyes looked wet. She also noticed that her body was shaking slightly, and that her fists were clenched. Elena meant to say something that would calm Isobel down, because she clearly was anything but calm at the moment, but all that came out was her own emotional question. "Do I really have a sister?"

Isobel nodded, continuing on her way to the door.

"Where the hell are you going, Isobel?" Katherine asked.

"To find my old baby-snatching friend," Isobel said, clearing her throat. "That bitch is dead."


	72. Chapter 72

**o-0-o-0-o Thanks so much to TheInstantClassic, RainySmithCullenSalvatore X, David Fishwick, munequita, MusicFlowsWithin, Marie, celia, laugh4life, TVD-FFN-NIN and Sasha R for reviewing the last chapter. Sidenote, anyone excited for the season finale? Anyway, here's the new chapter. It's not a super long one, but I hope you will like it. Leave me a review and let me know what you think o-0-o-0-o**

Elena stood still and silent, thoughts limited to two things: Selena and Isobel.

She had a sister, a beautiful little sister who was asleep on Stefan and Damon's couch.

Isobel had just seen a daughter that she thought was dead. Isobel had just left the Salvatore house, angry and emotional, and very likely to be going to find and kill the woman who had lied to her.

Elena should not have been surprised by this. Elena hadn't had any illusions about Isobel never killing anyone. She knew that Isobel had killed. It was something she knew without ever having to ask.

Even knowing that, though, hearing Isobel basically say she was going off to kill a woman freaked Elena out, and weirdly, and quite probably wrongly, it made Elena feel safe, and after hearing Isobel's words where she was mentioned, it made her feel loved.

Isobel loved her kids. Whatever kind of person she was, whatever bad things she may do, Elena knew that she loved her now. Elena could always replay Isobel's words to Katherine about always thinking about Elena, and the reasons that her sister ended up with the name she did if she ever got caught up in Isobel's sometimes cold exterior.

Things with Isobel were generally weird. Elena knew that Isobel cared about her in her own way. Katherine had told Elena that Isobel loved her when Elena went to see her in the tomb. And Isobel had even told Elena that she would kill for her. Somehow though, there was still some sort of uncertainty about what Isobel felt on Elena's part.

That uncertainty just went away.

Elena's eyes met Katherine's. Katherine could tell that a lot was going on inside of Elena. She put aside the not-so-nice feelings she had for Elena in regards to Stefan for a moment, and just looked at her as someone who was related to her, someone who had family issues, someone who struggled with her feelings for those related to her.

"Remember when you came to see me and had those questions for me?" Katherine asked, solely focused on Elena now, paying no attention to anyone else in the room.

"Yeah," Elena said quietly.

"The question you asked me about Isobel, you remember that?"

Elena nodded.

"I gave you an answer to that question. Do you believe me now?" Katherine asked.

"I do," Elena said, taking a deep breath.

"Good," Katherine said.

She noticed that everyone was watching her and Elena.

Katherine rolled her eyes.

"Okay, you know that now. Time for you to stop standing around looking like an idiot. We've got stuff to do," Katherine said, slipping back into her bitchier self.

"You can never go too long without being a bitch, can you?" Caroline mumbled.

"What was that, Barbie?" Katherine asked. "Did you say you wanted me to kick your little blonde ass all over this house? If that's what you want, I'd be happy to oblige," Katherine said, walking toward Caroline with a smirk on her face.

"Oh no, no, no," Stefan said, getting in between the blonde and the brunette vampires. "There's not gonna be any of that."

Katherine just grinned and walked away.

"It's cute how he looks out for you, Barbie," Katherine said to Caroline. "Too bad his fondness for you actually has nothing to do with you at all. You know he only gives a crap about you because you remind him of Lexi, right?"

That hit Caroline pretty hard. She bit her lip and tried to keep a smile on her face, but what Katherine said actually hurt her a hell of a lot.

"Don't listen to her, Caroline," Stefan said, shaking his head at Katherine. "She's just trying to piss you off. You know I love you," he said, giving her a little nudge.

It was probably one of the most childish things she'd done in quite awhile, but Caroline couldn't help it- she stuck her tongue out at Katherine.

Damon stood in his corner trying not to laugh at Caroline and Katherine. He let his gaze wander to Elena, which he really shouldn't have.

It was like he was a glutton for punishment. He shouldn't be staring at something he could never have. He shouldn't be staring at and still loving this girl who didn't feel the same.

Seeing her hurt only a tiny amount less than it had two weeks ago. He still loved Elena, but he really was trying to move on, and he'd keep doing that, because Bonnie had been right, Stefan and Elena were probably going to get back together, and he didn't want to be pining away for his brother's girl all over again.

He finally took his eyes off Elena and looked for Bonnie, but he didn't see her. She had been in the room a few minutes ago, but she wasn't now.

"Where'd Judgey go?" he asked.

"She probably just wanted some air. She probably just wants a minute to clear her head. We came right over. She hasn't even had the chance to process everything that just went down with her mother," Elena said.

"A.k.a the biggest bitch I've ever seen in my freakin' life," Caroline added.

Bonnie walked back inside after her little breather outside.

"Your mom showed up?" Damon asked, as Bonnie walked inside. "Why didn't you call me?"

"Don't worry about that. That's not important right now," Bonnie sighed. "Let's get down to business. Besides seeing the adorable kid that is Elena's sister and being here for Elena, why am I here right now?" Bonnie asked, not unkindly at all, just tiredly, and wanting to think about anything besides her mother.

Katherine spoke up. "It's pretty obvious that Selena is who we think she is, but I just want to confirm it. Also, we don't know how she got here or what exactly has happened to her. We need to know if somehow Klaus or Elijah has gotten their hands on her-"

"I get it," Bonnie said, nodding, not really needing her to explain anymore.

"And what if they have gotten their hands on her, what are you gonna do to Selena? You gonna hurt her?" Elena asked, moving herself between Katherine and Selena.

"Are you fucking kidding me?" Katherine asked angrily, wanting to toss Elena across the room. "I have _never _hurt a kid in my life- and I've had a pretty friggin' long life. I slaughtered a village full of people and didn't once hurt any of the kids in it. And they were strangers. This kid is my blood. I can't stand you and I've never actually hurt you. I actually like the kid, so no , I'm not gonna hurt her. And you'd do well to just keep your mouth shut and not say another word to me today."

Elena kept her mouth shut, not because Katherine told her to, but because she knew she just said something idiotic. She knew Katherine wouldn't hurt her, she was just being stupid.

"You know how to do what I need you to do?" Katherine asked Bonnie.

Bonnie nodded. "I need a little knife or something."

Stefan went to the kitchen and brought one to her.

"Elena, can you give me your finger?" Bonnie said, walking over to her.

Elena held out her hand, and Bonnie made a small cut. Then she moved on to Selena.

Bonnie took the little girl's hand gently and made a very small cut.

"Press your fingers against hers," Bonnie instructed.

Elena did what her friend told her to.

Bonnie started to chant, and as was usually the case with the magic they'd seen, no one had any idea what Bonnie was saying.

Less than a moment later, there was a small burst of pink light right above Elena and Selena's fingers.

"You can let go now," Bonnie said, smiling.

"What's the verdict? What's the pink burst of light mean?" Caroline asked.

"Sisters," Bonnie said, feeling happy for Elena.

Elena was happy. She was extremely happy, but now she couldn't get something else out of her head.

"Lose a brother, but get a sister three weeks later," Elena said quietly, unaware that she spoke out loud.

Bonnie and Caroline looked at her sympathetically.

"Sorry guys, I need a minute," Elena said, walking outside, as Jeremy started to fill her thoughts.

Stefan followed her outside.

Caroline being her adorably nosy self went to stand by the door to see if she could hear what Elena and Stefan were saying.

"Usually you work your mojo and you ask whatever questions you need answers to, right?" Katherine asked Bonnie.

Bonnie nodded.

"Okay, so there's some questions to ask, but she's so young. She might not be able to answer everything or even really know what we're talking about. So, we'll ask some questions, but then I don't want you to sever the truth connection thing you'll have going with Selena, I want you to keep it going, but I don't want you to ask anything. I'm gonna probe around a bit in her mind and see what I find... This isn't going to hurt her, right?" Katherine asked.

"This _can _hurt, but it won't. I'll be gentle with her," Bonnie said.

"You wanna take a minute before you do that, Bennett?" Damon asked. "You're not looking super strong right now."

"I'm fine," Bonnie said. "I'm just tired. It's been a long day."

Katherine and Damon kept their eyes on Bonnie as she started to work her magic again.

Caroline stood by the door, listening in on Stefan and Elena and wondering what exactly Isobel was doing at the moment. She wondered if Isobel really meant what she said. Was she going to kill the woman who used to be her friend?

Caroline had no way of knowing for sure, but that was definitely Isobel's intention.


	73. Chapter 73

**o-0-o-0-o I hope you guys aren't too annoyed with me right now. So what do I have to say for how long it's taken for this update to be posted? This is what I have to say (there are several things). One of the reasons for the first bit of lateness is that I was totally clueless about moving houses. We moved to a new house and I just had no idea how long it was really going to take us. I seriously underestimated how long it would take. I also got a brand new computer. The store was supposed to do a data transfer for me of certain things from my old computer, some chapters for this story included in that, but that didn't work out. I basically had to re-write a lot. Also, it took awhile for the people to come set up the whole internet system thing for our house. The more major reasons that happened after that and are the ones that have really put me behind on the updating are that I've also been having to take care of my cousin while my aunt has been in the hospital. And my sister was in a pretty big car accident and in the hospital. My mind was very focused on that, but thank goodness everyone is doing fine now. Anyway, you wonderful readers, I'm back and I've missed writing the story. Updates will be much better now that everything is finally settled. Thanks to TheInstantClassic, David Fishwick, iwantbirthdaycake, MusicFlowsWithin, Anna-Lisa, Hooked-On-TVD and Mariana for reviewing last chapter. You guys rock. Here's the newest chapter. I hope you'll enjoy it. Leave me a review and let me know what you think o-0-o-0-o**

She had a bad feeling. There was a voice screaming in her head that Isobel was going to do something very stupid and land herself in a whole hell of a lot of trouble. Katherine really didn't want to ever have to call Anton for anything, but she needed someone to keep an eye on Isobel right now since she was busy dealing with this new Selena business over here.

She didn't want to call him, but it looked as if she had to. She took a deep breath and dialled his phone number.

She knew that he would do whatever she wanted him to.

"Are you okay? Is everything fine?" Anton asked, answering his phone.

"I'm fine," Katherine said, trying to keep her voice from getting loud. "Get this through your head- I'm not going to call you if _I'm_ in need of help. _I_ will not take help from you. This isn't about me, so just listen. I'm in the middle of something important right now, so I can't follow her myself. Here's your chance to do something useful if you want to _try _ to make your way back into my good books. Isobel stormed out of here a few minutes ago. She just learned something major, and now she's on the hunt for someone. She's out to get revenge."

"Do you want me to stop her?"

"No. Don't stop her. I don't care what she does to that woman. The woman deserves whatever's coming to her. Just make sure Isobel isn't stupid about it. She's not thinking straight. I don't need her to get into shit because she killed some stupid idiot in broad daylight in front of people."

Anton sighed on the other end of the phone. "Why would she be killing someone, Katerina?"

"That doesn't matter. Just find her and keep an eye on her. I'll text you the location she's headed toward."

"Do you really expect me to just stand by and watch her kill someone, if that's what she intends to do?"

"If I was Isobel, I'd kill that bitch. So yes, if she wants to kill her and she's not being stupid about it- I do expect you to just stand by and let it happen," Katherine said, hanging up the phone.

There was some judgement in Anton's voice. He wasn't keen on the idea of Isobel killing someone. Katherine didn't give a shit. She had no sympathy for the woman that Isobel was going after.

Katherine walked back over to Bonnie and Damon and the sleeping Selena. She'd made it a point not to make that phone call in front of Bonnie. She wasn't in the mood to deal with any sort of judgement and anger from her. Bonnie held human life sacred in almost all circumstances. She didn't think Bonnie would approve of murder as punishment for kidnapping someone's kid. Katherine wasn't in the mood to be dealing with a potentially pissed off Bonnie about this. She didn't need the headache.

o-o-o-o-o-o-o

The baby she thought had died was very much alive. She was alive and she was asleep on the couch at the Salvatore house.

Her baby, her little Selena was alive and well. She would be 4 years old in less than a month, two-and-a-half weeks to be more precise.

She missed nearly 4 years because of some bitch who stole her kid. Now she'd be a disappointment to not just one daughter, but two. She was young when she had Elena. She couldn't be what Elena needed at that time, but it very nearly broke her completely when she gave Elena to Miranda and Grayson. There wasn't a day that had gone by that she hadn't thought about Elena.

Once upon a time she was ready to be a mother. When she found out that she was pregnant with Selena, she was happy and she was ready for it, but that pretty much all died when she believed that Selena had died , too.

The way she had become, the woman she was now, just didn't know how to be someone's mother. Not in the way people normally thought of mothers. Did she love her daughters? Absolutely. Completely. Fiercely. Did she know how to show it or feel comfortable trying to express it? No, not really.

Isobel shook off the thoughts and focused her eyes on the road.

Isobel was probably breaking every traffic rule known to man, but she didn't give a crap. She had somewhere to be and someone to find.

Isobel hadn't been back here at all since the day she thought her baby had died, but she knew exactly where she was headed. She was going to find her old friend Claire, get some answers, and then get rid of her.

Isobel paid no attention to anything or anyone around her. She didn't care about anything right now except for finding Claire.

She finally parked her car and headed for the place she knew that Claire worked at, and didn't even bother to try to put on a calm face. She wanted Claire to see her furious. She wanted the woman to be afraid.

Isobel walked into the building and went straight into the elevator that would bring her up to Claire's work spot.

The elevator opened and the first person that Isobel saw was Claire, the woman who lied to her about Selena being dead and stole her.

Claire's eyes were wide with worry when she saw Isobel's furious face. The look on Isobel's face told Claire that Isobel knew exactly what she had done with her daughter.

"We're going to take a walk," Isobel said, motioning Claire into the elevator with her.

"I- I can't. I've still got a bunch of work to do," Claire answered nervously. She knew that this wasn't going to be good.

"You're going to go tell your boss that you need the afternoon off, and then you're going to get in this elevator with me and come for a walk," Isobel said, looking the woman straight in the eye.

"Okay," Claire said, nodding under compulsion.

It only took a moment for Claire to join Isobel in the elevator.

"Where are we going?"

"We're going somewhere to talk. We've got a lot to discuss," Isobel said.

"Please don't hurt me. You look like you're about to hurt me," Claire said quietly, tears welling in her eyes.

"Don't worry, I won't. Not yet, at least. That'll happen in a little while."

o-o-o-o-o-o-o

Stefan and Elena were sitting silently on the front steps.

"Stefan, you don't need to be out here with me," Elena said after awhile, trying to put on a smile.

"What if I want to be out here with you?" Stefan asked.

"Then I'd love for you to just sit here with me," she said, closing her eyes for a minute.

"You know that there's no proper way that you're _supposed _to deal with this, right?" Stefan said gently. "You're allowed to be both happy and sad."

"It doesn't feel right to be either of those things," Elena said, sighing. "If I'm happy it's like I've forgotten about Jeremy. If I'm sad, it's like finding out I have a sister means nothing," Elena said, resting her head on Stefan's shoulder.

She let her head rest for about three seconds before she quickly moved a little bit away from him and apologized.

She probably shouldn't be doing things like that since she still didn't know where she stood with him. She didn't know exactly how he was feeling about her. She didn't know if he'd read her letter yet. She didn't know if he was ready to forgive her or if he wanted to possibly try to repair their relationship.

Stefan stared at Elena. This girl had a hold on him, no matter how much he wished that wasn't the case over the past weeks. He still loved her, and he missed her. He couldn't lie and say that everything was the same as before, because it just wasn't. He couldn't forget about Elena and Damon, but he felt like he was ready to try to move passed it. He wanted to try to mend their relationship.

Stefan motioned her back over to him and Elena felt her throat tighten. She moved a bit closer and Stefan gave her a smile.

"Talk to me," Stefan said, taking her hand in his. "Talk to me about Jeremy. Talk to me about Selena."

Elena looked down at her hand in his and she almost started to cry.

Stefan never really could bear to see her cry.

"This is not about you and me right now. This is about you and your family, but I'm just going to say this so that you know what's up. Things happened and I don't know if things can be exactly like they used to, but I'm gonna try to give you and me another shot, okay? We're gonna have to go slow, and I won't make you any promises because I don't want to break any- but I _will _try because I miss you and despite all that's happened I still love you," Stefan told her.

Elena took a deep breath and nodded her head, her heart feeling lighter than it had in awhile. His words were music to her ears.

"Thank you," Elena said quietly, leaning her head against his shoulder once more, letting tears of relief roll down her cheek.

Elena couldn't quite express the emotions that rushed through her. She wasn't _ just_ feeling relief, but there was definitely relief running through her. Hearing Stefan say what he said made her feel better. She had missed him so much. Hearing him say that he still loved her was wonderful.

They were quiet for a moment before Elena started speaking again. "I have a sister, a brand new sibling. I have a beautiful little sister and I think I'm already quite in love with her, even though I haven't spoken a word to her yet. And I have a brother, a dead brother who I've known and loved for practically my whole life. She's here and he's gone… Why can't I have both of them here?"

Stefan gave her hand a squeeze as she continued to talk.

Caroline couldn't help but grin on the other side of the door. Even though this stuff about Jeremy and a new sister was clearly affecting Elena, Caroline couldn't help but focus on the happy part of what she heard. Stefan was going to try again. Stefan and Elena's relationship was being given a new chance and Caroline was thrilled about it.

Caroline was rooting for Stefan and Elena like crazy, and she had a great urge to go walk over to Katherine and rub it in her face that Stefan and Elena were going to try to work things out.

She would have loved to do it, but she fought the urge and decided to be mature about things as she walked back over to where Katherine, Bonnie and Damon stood around Elena's sister.

Caroline hadn't been paying attention to what was going on there before. She was too focused on listening in to Stefan and Elena. Whatever questions Bonnie and Katherine had been asking Selena in her sleeping, unaware state was over now, because no one was making a sound.

Caroline was pretty sure that Katherine was looking around in Selena's head from the look of concentration on her face.

Caroline wondered what they had found out about the girl and why she was here all of a sudden.

Caroline watched Katherine, and the expression on her face kept growing angrier. After a moment, there was a look of outright fury painted across Katherine's face and Bonnie's face had the same look on it.

There was silence for another couple moments, and then Katherine finally spoke.

Katherine tried to keep her voice calm-sounding despite the raging storm of emotions that was going on inside of her. She turned to Bonnie. "I need you to do something for me, Bonnie."

Bonnie raised an eyebrow as she tried to get the images she had just seen inside Selena's mind out of her head.

"I need you to cast whatever illusion-charm-spell thing you did when you got me out of the tomb. I need you to make me invisible because I really need to get out of here for awhile. I have somewhere I need to be. I have something I need to do, people I need to find."

Bonnie looked at Katherine and took a deep breath. What Katherine had seen when she was peering around inside Selena's mind made the vampire irate. She knew what Katherine had planned, she could read it in her eyes, and Bonnie didn't even care. Bonnie just saw the same things Katherine did. Bonnie had no sympathy for those that Katherine wanted to go after. Katherine wanted to go after the two men that brought Selena to town. They'd done some extremely horrible things to the little girl.

Bonnie learned things that really upset her from Selena's own mouth, and then from what she had seen when Katherine was peering around in the child's mind.

Bonnie was already in a foul mood from her mother's visit, but after hearing and seeing the things that she did, her mood went from quite bad to absolutely horrible.

"You're all about protecting the innocent, aren't you?" Katherine asked, fighting to maintain the calm exterior she had just put up. "Selena is innocent. You can't tell me that those people she mentioned were good people. I saw it, those people are evil. You _hate_ evil. If _Emily_ were here she would do this for me. She'd help me get out of here and take care of the situation. Emily was _good_. So if _you_ do this, it doesn't mean that you've gone bad. She had morals and she called me on my bullshit, but for something like this- she would see things my way. She would agree that these assholes don't belong here in the land of the living anymore. She'd let me do it and she wouldn't shed a single tear for anyone who hurt a child the way the hurt her, and for the other thing that happened. Don't make me go into details right now to remind you... Keep in mind that I don't actually _need_ you to do this. I can call up the little witch-boy to do the little spell-"

The images of what Bonnie and Katherine had seen were whirling around in Bonnie's head and making her feel sicker and sicker.

"Do you need a little bit of a fucking reminder picture, Bonnie?" Katherine snapped. "What business do grown men have putting their nasty hands down a little girl's pants, huh?"

"None, absolutely none," Bonnie said.

"The men that brought her to town are not innocent. They are _not_ good. We saw what we saw. They're sick bastards and they need to pay. They deserve it, Bonnie," Katherine told her, her hands balled into fists.

There was a picture in Bonnie's head, a picture of all sorts of abuse: physical, emotional, verbal and sexual, and this picture made her see red. This picture created no sympathy at all for the men who inflicted this on the little girl. This picture created hate and disgust inside of Bonnie, and it left her with no feeling of remorse. There wasn't anything innocent about the men who had hurt Selena, and therefore, Bonnie didn't have any obligation to them. They weren't the type of people that Bonnie was meant to protect.

Katherine could have her way with the men. Bonnie wasn't going to waste any of her energy arguing with Katherine about this. In fact, Bonnie _ hoped _that Katherine kicked the crap out of them. Maybe this was a different side to Bonnie, maybe there was some hypocrisy, but she just didn't care. For a long time Bonnie saw most things and situations as simply black and white- she had to protect people from the vampires. Damon had told her once that things are never that simple. She guessed that he was right. He had said that as some sort of defense for some bad thing he had done, but he had a point. People were the monsters in this particular situation.

Bonnie still firmly believed that some things really were black and white, but she could see and admit that not everything was that way. Right and wrong, good and bad- the lines could get blurry. It was problematic from a moral standpoint because deciding that something is okay in one situation but forbidden in another has the potential to make for some unfair situations. But this decision wasn't hard for her. She didn't have any qualms about unleashing a furious vampire on two men.

Bonnie wasn't feeling bad about Katherine wanting to go after the men that Selena mentioned. The only dilemma was that Bonnie knew that Katherine didn't want to only hurt the men. She wanted to kill them. Truth be told, Bonnie was actually fine with that, and _that_ was the problem right there. Was it completely wrong for her to not care about the lives of those two men?

Bonnie thought that she probably really shouldn't be thinking that it was nothing of consequence to go out and kill some men, even if they were disgusting.

Damon was looking at Bonnie and he was pretty sure that he had an idea of what was going on in her head right now.

"Tell Judgey that you're not gonna kill them," Damon said, giving Katherine a look.

"Bonnie just needs to hear you say that you're not gonna end their lives. Tell her that, and she'll believe you and send you on your way. Go kick their asses and then make sure no one ever sees them again," Caroline added, putting emphasis on the last part.

Caroline knew exactly what Bonnie was thinking. She could read it on her face. Bonnie was disgusted and she didn't give a care about the men who had hurt Elena's sister. Katherine could kill them for all Bonnie cared. And that right there is what was bothering Bonnie. Caroline knew her friend well. Bonnie was probably bothered by the fact that she _wasn't_ bothered by what Katherine had planned for the men.

She just needed some empty words right now, it could be a lie and it wouldn't matter. She just needed some words that she could fall back on at a later time if ever she thought back on this occasion and felt guilty. If that happened, at least she'd be able to say that she was told the men weren't going to be killed.

Katherine rolled her eyes as she told the lie. "I'm not going to kill them, Bonnie. No worries."

Bonnie took a deep breath and nodded her head.

"The bastards are still here in Mystic Falls, I think, from what it looked like," Katherine said. "How long can you keep the spell on me for?"

"I'm kind of tired. I don't know how much longer I can give you, but I know I can give you an hour," Bonnie said, sighing.

"If they're here, that'll be enough time for me to track them down. Work your magic, Bennett," Katherine said, moving closer to Bonnie.

o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o

Anton was sure that he had just missed Isobel. The woman, Claire, had just randomly told her boss that she was heading out early for the day, something she's never done before, according to her co-workers. Also, her boss said that she saw her head off with a dark-haired woman. He was sure that the dark-haired woman was Isobel.

He went to the address that Katerina had given him, but Isobel wasn't here. He had to find her. He didn't know what had happened, he only knew that Isobel was furious about something and apparently wanted revenge.

Katerina was worried that Isobel was going to be stupid and do something like kill a person in front of a crowd of people.

Anton just couldn't picture that, at least not right out on the street.

If he was planning on killing someone, he would head for a place that was a little ways out and that had visual coverings, like trees.

He took a moment to survey the surroundings and spotted a park not too far away. He decided that that is where he would go.

Katerina asked him to find Isobel and that is exactly what he was going to do. He wasn't going to fail her on this one thing she asked of him.

He was going to find Isobel and make sure she wasn't out of control, and then he was going to bring her back to Katerina. He was hoping that he might get a smile out of Katerina, but he was probably better off just hoping to not get a dirty look.

He wanted her forgiveness more than anything in the word, and he wished that he could see her smile at him again. It had been _so_ long since that happened.

He didn't think the likelihood of that happening was very high, but it didn't really matter. He'd come running whenever she called for him, even if she glared daggers at him and threw insults his way every single time.

500 years had done nothing to make him stop loving her, and if he was around for another 500 he knew that wouldn't change.

He'd love her from the sidelines. She would love someone else and he would sit around waiting to hear her voice and do whatever she asked of him, knowing this full well. That's what the future would look like if he was still around, come to think of it, it wouldn't really be any different at all from now except for the fact that some time in the future he might actually have to watch her with Stefan.

All that Anton really knew was that Stefan and Elena had broken up, and there was that whole Elena and Damon business. Katerina was in love with Stefan, and he didn't care what anyone said, he thought that Stefan felt something for Katerina too. Anton knew that the younger Salvatore had been fiercely in love with Katerina over a century ago, and he had the feeling that with Stefan and Elena not being together, if that was still what was going on with that relationship, that Stefan and Katerina would be a real possibility for the future.

Did it kill him to know that she was in love with someone else? Yes it did. But he could not complain. He messed everything up on his own. He'd done something horrible, and he deserved whatever ill-feelings Katerina held for him.

He loved her in many ways. He loved her selfishly and he also loved her unselfishly. And the unselfish part, the part that wanted nothing more than for her to be happy couldn't help but be happy that she had found love with Stefan once upon a time.

Anton remembered Katerina's reaction back in the tomb when she thought that he would attack Stefan. He remembered the threats she made against him.

Stefan had loved her and she loved him. He had given her happiness, and that part of himself, that unselfish part didn't need to hear Katerina give him a threat ever again, after he learned how much she loves Stefan, to ensure that he wouldn't try to hurt the younger vampire.

The part of him that only wanted Katerina to be happy, that large part of him, respected Stefan Salvatore. Because of the love Anton had for Katerina, he didn't think he could ever really do anything horrible to Stefan, even if he wanted to.

It wasn't possible for him to be out here searching for Isobel and not think of Katerina. Isobel wouldn't exist if Katerina had never given birth to his daughter.

He shook his head, trying to clear his mind of her for a little while so he could focus and find Isobel.

o-o-o-o-o-o-o

Isobel was pacing back and forth as she listened to her former friend, Claire, tell her why she stole her baby.

Isobel was being told a story by Claire about overwhelming debt coming from a low-life husband who was bringing her down. Her husband had gotten into drugs and racked up a ridiculously high amount of debt, and the people he owed money to were practically beating down their door. Before they got to breaking down their door, they broke her husband's arm just to send a message that they were serious.

One of the guys her husband owed had a girlfriend who wanted a baby, but was unable to get pregnant.

"So you had the bright idea to steal my baby and give it to the guy your husband owed," Isobel said, disgusted.

"It wasn't like that. I swear it wasn't like that," Claire insisted. "It wasn't my idea. It was never my idea. I didn't want to take your baby. It was my husband's idea. He knew you were pregnant. He went to the guys he owed and he told them flat-out that there was no way that he could pay them back. He said that he knew one of their girlfriends wanted a baby, and he said that I had a friend who was pregnant. I'm sorry. Really-"

"Shut the hell up!" Isobel hissed. "I don't want your damn apology, you bitch!" Isobel yelled, glaring at the woman.

Claire shrieked in fear, seeing the look in Isobel's face. Isobel lost whatever composure she had maintained and just completely freaked out.

She grabbed Claire by the throat and began to squeeze.

She changed her mind on the way she was going to kill Claire. She was going to tear her throat out instead.

Isobel took Claire far enough out that there wasn't anyone around at the moment, but her yelling and the other woman's shrieks quickly changed that.

Anton heard Isobel and dashed off in her direction, seeing her quickly, wanting to get her out of this place before some curious people made their way towards her.

Anton could see people starting to run in Isobel's direction as he got to her.

He pulled Isobel off of the woman she was attacking and had to shove her aside to get a look at the other woman. She was bleeding, but Isobel hadn't killed her yet.

He could see a crowd running in their direction. He had to get Isobel out of here. Katerina said she didn't want anyone to see what was going on, so he quickly compelled the woman to forget ever seeing Isobel and he made her swallow some of his blood.

Isobel shot right back up and charged at the woman again. Anton had to grab and restrain Isobel, dragging her while she tried to fight him off.

"I want to kill her!" Isobel screamed. "That bitch needs to die! Let me go," she hissed, fighting against him.

"You gonna kill her in front of a crowd of people, really? I'm not letting you go. I'm bringing you back to Mystic Falls," Anton told her as pulled her along, trying to keep her under control.

"Do you know what she did?" Isobel spat as she tried to get away from him.

"No, I don't," Anton said, trying to keep his voice calm. "Katerina didn't go into specifics. Do you want to talk about it?"

"I don't want to talk," she yelled, as she continued to try to fight against him, but it wasn't any use. This guy who looked to be the same age as her daughter had over 500 years on her.

"I want her dead. She stole my baby. She delivered my baby and told me she was dead. She wasn't dead, she only lied to me so she could steal my kid!"

Anton looked sympathetic and very confused.

"I'm not talking about Elena. I have another daughter," Isobel said, suddenly going from yelling to having tears pouring from her eyes.

Anton had her in his grip already, almost hugging her so she couldn't run away, but he shifted slightly so that he could actually give her a hug.

It was slightly awkward because Isobel quickly realized she was crying and tried to pull away from the gesture of comfort, but Anton held firm, and patted Isobel's back.

"I'm really sorry," he told her. "I understand why you're furious, but killing that woman wouldn't change anything. The past would still have happened. I'm taking you back to Mystic Falls. You'll feel better there. You can see Elena and Kater- Katherine."

"My other daughter is there too," Isobel said quietly, just feeling tired after that great bout of rage, realizing that there was no way she was getting Claire. Anton wasn't going to let go of her. "She's at the Salvatore's place with Elena and Katherine. She's beautiful. I haven't spoken to her yet."

"Let me get you back there right away, then- so you can talk to her," Anton said.

"I don't know what to say to her," Isobel told him.

She didn't know him very well, but she couldn't deny that she felt as if there was a bond between them. He felt like family to her, and he was. It was almost like talking to Katherine. She talked to Katherine and found herself telling her things that she hadn't intended to talk about with anyone, things she just wanted to keep to herself, and it was sort of the same with Anton.

Before Isobel knew it, she was talking to him about Elena and Selena.

Isobel had no idea, but Anton was really happy that she was talking to him. He liked that he was actually getting to know some things. He was happy that there was one person who didn't hate him. He was sure that if Isobel ever found out what really happened with him and Katerina, she would hate him, too, but he really hoped that day would never come.

He liked the feeling of family that was between them.

"Do you wanna see her?" Isobel asked a little while later. "Do you want to see Selena? You could come back to the house with me if you want to see her."

Anton did want to see her, but he was certain that his presence would not be happily welcomed at the Salvatore house.

No one there wanted to see him, but it was Katerina and Elena that he was thinking about. Those were the opinions that mattered.

"I'd love to," he told her. "I just don't think that my presence will be a welcome one in Kater- sorry, Katherine's eyes."

"It'll be fine," Isobel told him. "She'll suck it up for me. She won't admit it, but she'd do just about anything for me. Anyway, it's time for her to get over whatever she's pissed off with you about."

Anton gave her a shaky smile, but said nothing. There was a good chance that there was never going to be a time when Katerina would get over what he'd done to her, and even though he hoped otherwise, he couldn't blame her if she never forgave him.

o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o

"What was that?" Elena asked Stefan as she felt something rush by her.

"Elena, Stefan, come back inside," Caroline said, coming to the door.

"I just felt something go past me," Elena said.

"Come inside," Bonnie called out, repeating Caroline.

Elena and Stefan shared a look, got up and went back inside.

"That was Katherine you felt rushing by out there," Damon said to Elena, as Stefan shut the door.

Bonnie sighed, sat down on one of the couches, and started to explain things as Damon went into the kitchen. He came back into the room and cut Bonnie off. "Pause the story-telling for a second, Bon-Bon."

"Why?" she asked him.

"You look like you're going to pass out soon. We don't want you to knock out mid-story," he said, handing her the box of cookies that Selena had been snacking from earlier. "Stuff your face with some sugar. That should keep you awake for awhile."

Bonnie rolled her eyes at Damon.

"Eat the damn cookies, stubborn-ass. You have a story to get through, and you still have to tell me all about your encounter with mommy-dearest."

"Have I ever told you that you're very annoying?" she asked him, popping a cookie in her mouth.

o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o

Katherine was on the hunt. She had two people two find, punish and annihilate. She replayed all of Selena's words and the images from Selena's mind over and over again in her own head.

She didn't know where the men that Selena had talked about were, but she had a very strong feeling as to where they would be.

She was happy to find out that her assumption had been correct.

She could see them through the window of the bar, sitting down, drinking and looking pleased with themselves.

Katherine glared at her prey, waiting for anyone to either enter or exit the bar so that she could enter behind them. She wasn't going to be stupid about this. She had a plan.

It was a couple minutes before someone came out of the bar and Katherine quickly sped in before the door closed.

She made her way over to the men, careful not to bump into anyone. Sure, she was invisible, but she needed to watch where she was going.

The men who were her targets were sitting on stools, which made what she was about to do quite easy since their feet were not touching the ground.

She used the crazy-glue she had brought with her and put some on each man's shoe.

When she was done that, she headed to the back room and cut the power. All the lights went out.

A couple people started to scream, while one of the employees told people to stay calm.

Katherine then pulled the fire alarm and she could hear people rushing out of the bar.

She surveyed the bar. She saw perfectly fine in the dark. It was just as she wanted, everyone besides the two men had fled the bar.

It was dark and she could hear the men cursing, trying to move.

"Why can't we move? Let's take the damn shoes off. If there's really a fire in here, we're gonna burn!" one of the men said, practically yelling.

Katherine set the stage in the back room, ready to make a fire and for it to appear to be an employee's careless accident.

She knew that the fire trucks would be on their way very soon and so would the flames. She grabbed a huge knife and made her way back over to the men who were trying to get out of their shoes.

"Don't move. It really won't do you any good. You're not getting out of here alive," Katherine said.

The men shrieked like little girls.

"You brought a little girl to town today. You hurt her and you did some very disgusting things to her, and I'm here to make you pay for that," Katherine said, practically growling.

Katherine didn't give the men time to respond, grabbing hold of them.

She wasn't _ just_ going to kill them, she was going to make it brutal.

The loud sounds of the fire alarm going off covered up the men's screams of agony that followed.

Katherine used the knife to cut off a certain appendage from the lower part of the men's bodies- a part that identified them as men.

She gave them a wicked smile as both men fell to their knees from the blood-loss and pain.

The men were crying and it was quite a satisfying thing to hear.

After that, Katherine vamped out and drained the life out of both men.

They were both dead, but Katherine wasn't done. She was going to let their bodies burn.

She could see the fire getting larger in the back room, so she dragged the bloody bodies back there to finish off her plan.

She threw the bodies into the growing flames and then sped off before the flames could get close enough to touch her.

She stood outside the bar for awhile, watching the flames of the fire rage.

She had no regrets about what she had just done. People did not get to hurt those that were her blood.

She didn't know how long she ended up staying there watching the flames but she eventually remembered that she needed to get back to Stefan's place because the spell that was making her invisible would be wearing off very soon.

o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o

Bonnie was trying to explain to Elena the things that she had learned about Selena, minus the part about the men who had brought her sister to town being disgusting, perverted pedophiles.

She got as far as telling her that the reason Selena was brought to town was because the woman she knew as her mother didn't want her anymore.

She managed to tell her that, but that was all because the next thing she knew, Anton and Isobel were walking through the door.

Caroline and Bonnie exchanged worried glances. Anton's presence wasn't going to be dealt with well by Stefan, Elena and Damon.

"Where's Katherine?" Isobel asked.

"She had something she needed to take care of. She should be back soon," Damon said toIsobel as he glared at Anton.

"Why is he here?" Elena asked Isobel, referring to Anton. "Katherine doesn't want him around," she said, trying not to sound too angry. Katherine had made it clear to Elena that Isobel was never to know what had really happened between Anton and herself.

Elena's feelings for Katherine weren't what she would describe as warm and fuzzy ones, but she could not muster up any good feelings for Anton after she learned just how he'd gotten Katherine pregnant all those years ago.

Put the drama between her and Katherine aside over Stefan and simply put, if she had to say who she preferred of her two ancestors, it was definitely Katherine.

Stefan stood glaring daggers at Anton while his fists were clenched at his side. Stefan wanted nothing more than kick his ass, but he fought that desire very hard.

Isobel did not know about what Anton had done to Katherine, so in her eyes there would be no major reason for Anton to be hated and the target of Stefan's physical fury.

The only reason he didn't go after Anton was Katherine. She wouldn't want there to be a spectacle in front of Isobel that would start to make her ask questions about why Anton was so un-liked.

Whenever Stefan thought about the things that Katherine had said under compulsion in the tomb about her history with Anton anger and sadness always raged inside of him.

His feelings for Katherine had changed a lot since the first time she'd popped up in Mystic Falls. He no longer hated her in the slightest. He remembered their past now without the anger he used to. He cared about her now and he hated to think about all of the bad things that had happened to her. They weren't together, that was over, but she was important to him.

She meant something to him, and he wasn't going to do something that was going to upset her. These weeks they'd had virtually alone together made him remember how much he'd cared about her, how even when he had been in love with her- that they had had a friendship.

He had a friendship, albeit a complicated one, with her, and he wasn't one to hurt his friends.

"Katherine called him," Isobel said, rolling her eyes.

"She did call me," Anton said.

Damon raised an eyebrow, and Stefan couldn't help himself as he blurted out "She doesn't need you for anything."

Caroline cringed. She knew why Anton was not getting a warm welcome, and she, as someone who didn't like Katherine thought it was completely justified, but she couldn't help but hate it a little to see Stefan have any sort of strong reaction because of Katherine. He cared about Katherine again, and Caroline didn't like it very much. Caroline wanted Stefan and Elena back together, and she could just see Katherine using the fact that Stefan cared about her again somewhere down the road to cause trouble for Stefan and Elena.

"Stefan's right. I don't need Anton for anything, but since Isobel was likely to do something quite stupid, I sent him after her to make sure she didn't get herself into a whole bunch of shit," Katherine said, walking into the house.

Everyone looked around, trying to see where Katherine was. They could only hear her voice.

"The spell is going to wear off in a couple minutes, Katherine. I suggest you clean yourself off before then," Bonnie said, taking a deep breath. She didn't really want to see any signs of whatever Katherine had done to those men.

"Yeah, yeah," Katherine mumbled.

"Where were you?" Anton asked, not knowing where to look because he couldn't see her.

"None of your business. You brought Isobel back. Your task is complete. You can leave now. There's no reason for you to be here," Katherine told him.

"Don't be like that," Isobel said. "I wanted him to see Selena. Don't be all bitchy about it. I don't know why you're so pissed at him. Play nice for me."

"I'll see her some other time, Isobel. I don't want to upset Ka-"

"Oh just shut up, Anton," Katherine said. "You want to see her, you've got five minutes. I'm going to take a quick shower. I don't have the energy to deal with you today, so please just be gone by the time I get back down here," she said, sighing. Isobel was being quite the pain in her ass right now.

Katherine climbed the stairs and turned to head into the bathroom but stopped when she heard the doorbell ring.

Katherine heard someone open the door. She waited to hear who it was.

It was Elijah.

What the hell was he doing here?

"Sorry to interrupt your day, Stefan," Elijah said in a friendly tone. "But I need to have a little chat with you and your visitor, Anthony, I believe his name is."

Katherine closed her eyes and balled her hands into fists. Elijah must have been watching the house. How did he know who Anton was? As far as she knew, Elijah had never seen his face before, only heard about some guy who had been looking for her.

"We need to have a chat about the lovely Miss Katerina Petrova. Would you gentlemen come take a walk with me? I have some things I need to say and I would rather not do it in front of everyone else."

"Sure," Stefan said, maintaining a calm tone.

Anton followed Stefan out the door

"What the hell was that about?" Elena asked, feeling nervous.

"I'm gonna go find out," Damon said, heading out after the others.


	74. Chapter 74

**o-0-o-0-o Thanks to Anna-Lisa, David Fishwick, laugh4life, omgyourmom, TheInstantClassic, ExecutionerKain and the others for reviewing the last chapter. So, remember all the things that delayed the last chapter? Well more crap happened after that that delayed this. My boss got sidelined at work so I've been basically having to do two jobs- hers and mine. Also, I broke my arm lol so I'm basically typing with one hand which is not easy, especially for a longer chapter. Stuff just seems to keep happening in my life lol and I hope the unexpected stuff is over because I really love writing. I'm really, really, really sorry for the wait. So everyone, let's hope nothing else happens so I can get these chapters out to you in decent amounts of time. Hope you'll enjoy this newest chapter. Leave me a review and let me know what you think o-0-o-0-o**

They walked for a couple minutes before Elijah stopped and decided that it was a good place to talk.

"I see you've joined us, Damon, even though I didn't ask for your presence," Elijah said.

Damon just shrugged. "I was bored."

Elijah just shook his head and turned his gaze to Anton.

"I don't believe we've been formally introduced. I'm Elijah. It's nice to meet you, Anthony."

Elijah held out his hand for Anton to shake. Anton wanted to rip the hand off of Elijah's body, and then he wanted to kill him.

This was one of the men involved in trying to sacrifice Katerina back when she was still human; he was one of the ones who wanted to kill her in the coming months. This was one of the men who slaughtered Katerina's family, someone who would have butchered their daughter Rayna, had he known of her existence.

Anton had never spoken one word to this man, yet he wanted nothing more than to murder him.

Anton fought his violent urges, hoped that he looked calm, and shook the evil bastard's hand.

"It's come to my knowledge that you've been on a bit of a search for Katerina. I imagine that that must have something to do with me, and I have to give you my apologies. I need to apologize to you, too, Stefan. I'll get to that in a minute, though."

Damon stood watching the other three, wondering what sort of pathetic story Elijah was about to spew.

"I have a lot of people who work for me, and a few weeks back I had several of these people tell me that someone was searching pretty frantically for Katerina Petrova, or Katherine Pierce as she's been calling herself for a long while now. I was given the same description of the young man who was looking for her by all of them. The person searching for her was you and I can only imagine the horrible things you must have been thinking, the things you may still be thinking.

"You must have heard that her life was in danger, and you hearing that is partially my fault. Let me just assure you that no harm is going to come to her. I don't know what exactly you know, but let me keep this brief. Someone named Klaus wants her dead and has plans to make that happen, but _I_ won't let anything happen to her.

"I'm sure that that must seem hard to believe because I know that you must have heard that I have the same intentions for Katerina that Klaus does. I cannot lie, I let that spread around, but I never meant it. It came from a place of anger and hurt. I'll admit that I let the word spread because I wanted to scare Katerina. She hurt me in the past, and it wasn't easy to get over. The ultimate truth, though, is that I love her. Despite everything that has happened, I do love her. It may not be a healthy love, but it is love nonetheless, and I will not let any harm come to her, even though that is what I have let her and others, including you and the Salvatores believe."

Stefan, Damon and Anton were all thinking the same thing- that Elijah's words were nothing but lies.

Stefan couldn't wait for the day that Elijah would finally meet his death, and he could see that Anton felt the same way.

"I knew Katerina before any of you did, we have a complicated history. She seems to choose to remember things differently than I do, but there was a time when she and I had something-" Elijah started to say but Anton cut him off.

"You didn't know her before I did. _I_ knew her first. And I think it's you who chooses to remember things differently than they were. You didn't have anything with her. She wouldn't have been interested in you. You may have loved her, but I can guarantee she never felt anything like that for you in return. No offence or anything but you're too old for her. She prefers guys who are closer to her in age than you. And once again, no offence, but she's too beautiful to have ever settled and fell for you."

If Stefan hadn't disliked Anton so much he would have grinned.

Damon tried to keep a straight face.

"No offence taken," Elijah said, plastering a smile on his face. "How exactly do you know Katerina?"

"She was my best friend," Anton said, without missing a beat.

"Who you loved from afar, I'm sure," Elijah said, grinning a little.

"Whatever feelings or relationship I had with her is not your business. The only thing that you need to know is that I would die for her. I would kill for her. I will _not _let anything happen to her," Anton said, fighting very hard to keep a calm exterior.

"You and I are on the same page then. We won't let anything happen to her. You can stop your frantic search for her. She will be safe," Elijah said, smiling.

"How about you get to the part where you had an apology for my baby bro. What's that about?" Damon asked.

Elijah shot Damon an annoyed look before turning to Stefan.

"I've been cruel to you and Katerina, and I did it on purpose. I've gone down to the tomb to visit her many times since she has been in there and many of those times I've said some horrible things to her, from just plain being mean to telling her that I would kill her myself. I let you believe that my intention may be to kill her after we deal with Klaus. That's never been my intention, but I enjoyed the thought of making you uncomfortable and making her suffer a little.

"The sad, pathetic truth is that I've been jealous. She loved you in a way that I could never imagine. She loved you in a way I wish she could have loved me… You've acted as though you would be fine with whatever Katerina's fate turned out to be, but I _know_ that that is not the case. You may not be in love with her anymore, but I know that she's still in your heart. You can't love someone as much as you loved her in the past and just completely stop caring about them.

"I imagine that you've been thinking about ways to make sure she stays safe once we get rid of Klaus. You don't need to worry about that. I just wanted to let you know that you don't need to worry anymore. It was wrong of me to let you both believe that I had bad intentions for her and I'm sorry… I just wanted to let you know that you don't need to waste any energy on trying to plan for her safety since it was never in any actual danger from me to begin with. After we get rid of Klaus I'll get someone to remove the seal from the tomb to let Katerina out. Next time you go down to visit her in the tomb, Stefan, please apologize to her for me. She stays in the back of the tomb where I can't look at her and she won't speak to me when I go down to see her lately.

"I think I've taken up enough of your time for now. I'll get going. I'm sorry for intruding on your day," Elijah said, turning to leave.

"Thank you for coming to tell us," Stefan said, pretending to sound grateful and understanding.

Elijah gave a nod before finally leaving.

Anton was about to start speaking but Stefan silenced him with a glare. They would wait until they got back into the house to speak.

Elena, Katherine, Bonnie, Caroline and Isobel were all waiting to hear about what Elijah had to say.

Katherine was supposed to have gone to change and shower, but she forgot all about that as soon as she had heard Elijah's voice at the Salvatores' door.

When Stefan, Damon and Anton walked back in the house they were bombarded by all the females with the same question. "What was that about?"

They were about to be given an answer, but when Katherine suddenly became visible again, the question momentarily left everyone's mind.

Bonnie gulped. Elena's eyes practically popped out of their sockets. Caroline mumbled a quiet "Holy shit."

Stefan, Isobel, Damon and Anton immediately made their way towards Katherine to inspect for themselves if she was okay.

"I'm fine," Katherine said, holding out a hand to tell everyone not to crowd her.

"Are you sure?" Stefan asked, concerned, taking in the sight of her.

Katherine saw the concern in Stefan's eyes and took a look at herself to see what everyone looked so freaked out about.

The white towel that she had never changed out of was no longer white. It was red, soaked with blood.

She felt her face and knew that the men's blood was still on her lips.

Her arms and hands were covered with blood, too.

"It's not my blood, love. No worries," Katherine said, beginning to wipe the blood off her lips.

Damon couldn't help but grin. Katherine was badass.

Elena cringed hearing Katherine call Stefan "love".

Isobel ignored Katherine's words and invaded her little bubble of space, grabbing Katherine's arms to see if Katherine was actually alright for herself.

Katherine let out a laugh. "You channeling my mother right now, Isobel? I told you I'm fine."

Isobel rolled her eyes.

Katherine spotted Anton's gaze on her and couldn't help but feel awkward.

"Stop staring," she told him, trying not to sound as uncomfortable as she felt.

She knew that she was drenched in blood, so the likelihood of Anton having any sort of sexual thought at seeing her in nothing more than a tiny towel was not very high, but she couldn't help it. She didn't want him staring at her in next to nothing.

She was by no means shy about her body, anyone who knew her as a vampire knew that, but this was Anton she was talking about, and she couldn't get rid of the history that was there. She didn't want him looking at her in next to nothing.

He'd seen all of her before and it wasn't because she had let him. He wasn't going to get to see her now.

"I better get cleaned up before Selena wakes up. I need another shower. Stefan, come upstairs with me and tell me what the hell that loser Elijah said to you while you do that thing I need you to do for me."

Elena shot Katherine a dirty look and Katherine had to fight to keep from grinning.

"Simmer down, Elena. I obviously meant that he could tell me what happened from the other side of the bathroom door while I showered," Katherine said.

Caroline groaned inwardly.

Stefan felt a headache coming on.

"Is the Stefan and Elena love-show back on now? Is that why you're openly giving me a dirty look rather than at least trying to hide it as you've been doing for the past two weeks?" Katherine asked Elena, already knowing the answer. She knew that Stefan was going to try to give the relationship another chance.

"Don't worry, little girl, I'm not gonna try to seduce and steal your boyfriend," Katherine said, smirking, grabbing Stefan by the hand and leading him upstairs with her.

Katherine loved watching Elena squirm where she and Stefan were concerned. And Katherine wasn't gonna lie, she was kind of loving how jealous Elena appeared.

"And Bonnie," Katherine said, turning around to face the young witch. "You can wipe that look off your face. Stop freaking out. Our little bastard friends are still alive, but severely ass-kicked and long-gone. The blood I'm drenched in is not from what you think. This is the blood of a couple douche-bag vampires. All is still right in the world."

Katherine lied perfectly because Bonnie looked like she actually believed her.

Bonnie nodded and let out a little sigh of relief.

Damon and Caroline saw this and were pleased that Bonnie seemed to believe what Katherine had said. Neither of them believed a word of it, though. They knew the men were dead, but were happy for Katherine's seemingly convincing lie to Bonnie.

Katherine turned back around and continued heading back up the stairs with Stefan.

Katherine walked into Damon's room and grabbed his robe, grinning. She knew it would annoy him so she thought she would have a bit of fun amongst all the day's drama.

"Find it and get rid of it for me," Katherine told Stefan as she walked into the washroom.

Stefan let out a laugh. "Are you seriously still on about that?"

"I'm telling you, I saw a damn spider in there. Find it and get rid of it for me," Katherine said.

"Lethal, badass, Katherine Pierce is scared of a spider," Stefan teased as he looked around in her room.

"I'm not scared," she replied, turning on the shower and stepping in.

"Sure, sure," Stefan said.

"I don't like spiders. There's a difference between not liking something and being scared of something," she told him, as she started to scrub her skin clean of all the blood under the hot water. "You're around, so you can get rid of it for me."

"Katherine, I can't see any spider in here."

"Keep looking, Stefan. You need to find it because Damon is guaranteed to be a jackass and not bother to help me get rid of the problem. He'll just laugh."

"Katherine, honestly, I don't see any spider in here. You were either seeing things that weren`t there, or it's gone now."

"Stefan, so help me God, if I go in there later and see the damn spider, I'm gonna kick your ass."

Stefan just laughed.

"Anyway," Katherine said, continuing with her shower. "What the hell did Elijah want?"

"Oh yeah, our great friend Elijah- haha, apparently he wants to keep you safe. Isn't that sweet of him?" Stefan said sarcastically.

Katherine let out a laugh in the shower. "He wants to keep me safe- yeah right."

"That's not all he had to say," Stefan told her, taking a seat outside of the washroom, leaning against the wall.

"What other bullshit came out of his mouth?" Katherine asked as she rinsed out her hair with water.

Stefan was about to tell her more when Elena came up the stairs, practically running, holding Selena who was now very much awake, followed by Damon.

"She's just right in there, sweetie," Elena said softly, as Selena buried her face in the crook of Elena's neck.

"Katherine, hurry up and get out here now. We need you," Damon said.

Katherine jumped out of the shower, pulled on the robe and threw the door open

Damon saw that she had taken his robe and sent a small glare in her direction.

"What's wrong now?" Katherine asked.

"Someone really wanted to see you," Elena said, nodding down at Selena.

Katherine breathed a sigh of relief. "Hey cutie."

"Hi," she said quietly.

"She saw Anton, and-" Elena said, beginning to explain.

"She got scared," Katherine said, knowing what Elena was about to tell her.

Elena nodded.

"Are you feeling a little better now?" Elena asked Selena.

Selena looked up at her and nodded. "I think it's okay if you put me down now."

Elena put Selena down.

Katherine leaned down so she could look at the little girl. "Do you remember how I told you that you didn't need to be afraid of them," she said, pointing to Stefan and Damon.

Selena nodded.

"Well, you don't need to be afraid of the guy downstairs either," Katherine told her.

Katherine motioned for Stefan and Damon to go downstairs.

"You said Stefan and Damon were your friends. Is the guy downstairs your friend too?" Selena asked.

"Once upon a time," Katherine mumbled.

"What?"

"Yeah, sure," Katherine sighed. She was not going to rehash the past, especially with this little girl. "We'll call him my friend."

"Are you two twins?" Selena asked Elena and Katherine.

Katherine and Elena both let out a little laugh.

"You two look the same. Your face is the same. You're both really pretty."

"You know what?" Elena said, giving her sister a smile. "We both think _you're _really pretty."

Katherine nodded her agreement.

Selena seemed very happy with the compliment.

"Come with me, I want to show you my room," Katherine said, motioning Elena and Selena to follow her in.

When Elena and Selena were in, Katherine closed the door behind them and turned the radio on so that no one would hear the conversation.

"It's so big," Selena said, looking around.

"She's not my twin. She's not my sister," Katherine told Selena, pointing at Elena.

"I don't understand. You look the same. Only your hair is different. Yours is kinda curly," she said, pointing at Katherine. "And yours is straight," she said, pointing at Elena.

"Remember when I got scared and I came running to you?" she asked Elena.

"Yeah," Elena said, nodding.

"I only knew you weren't Katherine downstairs when I looked at your hair. That's the only thing that makes you guys look different. How can you not be sisters? That's so weird… If you're not sisters are you at least part of the same family?" Selena asked, wide-eyed.

Elena and Katherine looked at each other and both sighed.

"Yes," they both said at the same time.

"Can I sit on your bed?" Selena asked Katherine.

Katherine nodded.

Selena tried to climb onto the bed but had some difficulty, so Elena picked her up and sat her atop the bed.

"Thanks," Selena said.

"You're welcome," Elena told her, taking a seat next to her. "So, I heard that you were looking for someone- your sister."

Selena nodded. "Elena Gilbert."

"I know who she is," Elena told her. "And I hope you're gonna be happy when you find out who she is. I know that she's really happy to learn that you're her sister."

Selena looked at Elena anxiously. "Who is she?"

"Me," Elena said. "I'm Elena. I'm your sister."

Selena's jaw dropped a little bit, and Katherine couldn't help but grin. The kid looked adorable.

Elena didn't need to wonder for too long if Selena was happy to learn that she was her sister because after about two seconds Selena pounced on her, giving her as tight a hug as she possibly could.

"I'm really glad that you're happy, but I'm gonna need you to sit up and look at me, Selena, okay?" Katherine said.

Selena sat up and looked as if she was just figuring something out. "If you and Elena are part of the same family, that means you and me are part of the same family, right?"

Katherine nodded, and Selena launched herself at Katherine. She wrapped her arms around Katherine's neck.

The sight was really cute and it made Elena smile.

"Selena, I need you to look at me, okay? I want to see your pretty face," Katherine told her.

Elena had a feeling that she was about to witness some compulsion.

"I know that some bad stuff happened to you. I know that some men hurt you and that they made you really scared, but they're never going to hurt you again. I made sure that they're gone forever. No one is ever going to see them again. You're going to forget about the bad men and what they did, and you're not going to be scared every time you see a new guy. You're going to forget the mean things that those people who said they were your parents used to say to you. You're going to forget that lie they told you before they sent you here about your real parents not loving or wanting you. You're going to meet your mom soon and I want you to always remember that she really loves you. She might not be able to give you a big hug or tell you that she loves you, but I want you to always remember that she _does _love you," Katherine said, looking deep into Selena's eyes. "In a few minutes you're going to forget this and the things me and Elena are going to say. For now, me and Elena need to talk."

This was one of the few times in all her lifetime that she compelled a child.

Katherine turned her gaze to Elena and found that she was staring right at her.

Things always were and probably always would be weird between her and Katherine. She had just been shooting her dirty looks downstairs over Stefan, yet up here with Selena, she was feeling respect, gratitude and maybe some sadness for Katherine.

"I don't know exactly what happened to her, but thanks for making her forget. She's too young to have bad memories like that. And thanks for telling her that about Isobel. I wouldn't want her to ever think she wasn't loved, and we know that Isobel's not the greatest in the showing emotions department… I remember what you said when you were still in the tomb, when Elijah compelled you. The woman who raised your daughter before you met her told her that you didn't love her. I'm just saying that," Elena was struggling for words. "Selena's probably bringing back memories of your kid, so I'm sorry if it's making you sad," Elena said awkwardly.

Katherine didn't really know what to say, so she just gave Elena a shrug and said "Don't worry about it". She could tell Elena felt awkward and so did she. "Don't ever tell Isobel that Selena had been hurt."

Elena nodded.

"Isobel's gonna need to talk to Selena. You're gonna need to be in the room, Elena, because Isobel's gonna struggle and need some help talking to her."

Elena nodded again.

They sat silently for about thirty seconds, before Elena spoke, on a different subject now, her mood changing.

"I'm gonna fight for Stefan, you know. I can't stand the thought of the two of you possibly getting together, and I'm jealous as hell over the time you've had with him here pretty much alone lately... No one needs to say anything for me to see that you guys have gotten close again. I'm just wondering how close?"

Katherine was actually relieved to be on this topic. On the topic of Stefan, she had no problems dealing with Elena.

"Wouldn't you like to know?" Katherine said, grinning.

Elena rolled her eyes and muttered something that sounded a lot like "Bitch," under her breath.

Katherine laughed.

Elena sat up a little straighter and looked Katherine in the eye again. "Even if something happened, Stefan loves me. We're getting back together. He wants to try again. He misses me. Even if something happened between you two in the past couple weeks, that's over now. He's mine again, and I don't intend on losing him."

Katherine grinned at seeing Elena in competition mode. "Any girl with half a mind would not have any intentions of losing him. Stefan's quite the catch. Stefan and I have been doing a lot of strolling down memory lane while it's been mostly just the two of us in this big old house. You messed up big time with Damon, Elena. It's been me who has been making Stefan laugh and smile since you two have been apart. I'd be very careful where Stefan's concerned from now on. He misses you, but you messed up bad and you're not perfect in his eyes anymore, little girl. I think that if you mess up even a little bit, you and him will be done for good."

"And I'm sure you'll be ready and waiting to pick up the pieces," Elena said.

Katherine only smirked.

"When this stuff with Klaus is over, are you sticking around?" Elena asked, already knowing, and in regards to love for Stefan, fearing, Katherine's answer.

"I think so," Katherine said, grinning again, waiting to see Elena's face when she said the next thing. "Stefan wants me to stay. He asked me to stay. He told me that he didn't want me to go. He said he'd miss me if I left."

Even though Elena pretty much knew that Katherine's answer would be what she just said, she couldn't help but frown and bite her lip.

"If I were you, I'd be the best girlfriend in the world to Stefan at this point because the smallest screw-up could make you a single girl again. I don't think I'm going anywhere anytime soon, and like you said yourself, Stefan and I have gotten closer. He's finally come to terms with how much he loved me in the past. He could come running right back into my arms," Katherine told her.

"He loves me," Elena insisted.

"Absolutely," Katherine said, agreeing. "He loves you a whole hell of a lot, I'm not denying that. He might love you as much as he used to love me. I'm not gonna put you down and say that Stefan's not crazy about you, but don't count me out. We've established that Stefan loves you for you, but don't _ever_ forget that you never would have had the opportunity to fall in love with him or him with you if you didn't have my face.

"It's because you look like me that he ever took a second glance at you. If you didn't look exactly like me, all that ever would have happened the day he rescued you was him getting you help. He would have made sure you were okay and he never would have looked back. Don't ever forget that. And don't ever forget this," Katherine said, picking up the ring that Stefan had given to her back in 1864- his mother's ring.

That ended the conversation.

"I think it's time we all head back downstairs," Katherine said, getting up.

Elena helped Selena down from the bed and glared at Katherine.

They all walked downstairs together. Katherine and Elena shared a look of annoyance at seeing Anton waiting at the bottom of the stairs.

He wasn't looking at either one of them though. He was focused on Selena.

"Hi," he said gently. "I'm Anthony. I'm sorry if I scared you before. I promise you, though, there's no reason for you to be scared of me. I just want to be your friend. Do you think that would be okay?" he said to her.

Selena gave him a little smile, waved at him and nodded her head.

Anton looked really happy.

Katherine gave him a dirty look over Selena's head and said something in Bulgarian to him that made Isobel laugh a little.

Elena, Caroline and Bonnie would later learn that what Katherine had said was said was "Don't look so pleased with yourself. She only likes you now because of me, moron."

Katherine then turned her gaze to Isobel before looking down at Selena.

Isobel gulped and nodded.

"How about we introduce you to everyone here that you don't know yet," Elena said, moving over to Bonnie and Caroline with Selena.

"These are my _best_ friends, Bonnie and Caroline. I love them a lot. I think you're going to love them too. They're really fun," Elena told Selena.

"It's really nice to meet you, sweetie," Bonnie said, sending Selena a smile.

"Nice to meet you too," Selena said, smiling back.

"Hey princess," Caroline said, giving Selena a wink.

Selena laughed happily.

"I need your opinion. You seem like you'd be a good person to ask," Caroline said, leaning down a bit. "Can I ask you a question?"

"Uh-huh," Selena said, nodding.

"Look at my nails? Do you like this nail polish? You think it looks good?"

"I love it," Selena told her.

"Good," Caroline said. "If you want, I could do your nails sometime. Would you like that?"

Selena nodded eagerly and Elena grinned.

"Selena, this is Isobel," Elena said, taking a deep breath, more serious now.

Selena looked up at Isobel and smiled. Isobel looked really nervous.

It was an unspoken order but Elena knew that Isobel wanted her there when she talked to Selena. She hoped things would go well.

"You and me and Isobel are going to go in the other room and talk, okay?" Elena said to her sister.

"What about Katherine? Is she going to come too?" Selena asked.

Isobel looked at Katherine, asking the same thing with her eyes. Katherine silently answered Isobel before she answered Selena. She shook her head. This was something that Isobel needed to deal with on her own with her daughter, and if she needed help which Katherine knew she did, she was going to get it from her other daughter, Elena.

"No cutie, I'm staying out here. I have some stuff I need to talk to these guys about. You go with Elena and Isobel and talk, and I'll be right out here. I won't be far. I'll see you in a bit, okay?" Katherine told her.

"Okay," Selena said.

Selena took hold of Elena's hand as they walked into the next room with Isobel.

When Katherine turned her attention back to the others in the room she found Anton staring at her.

She knew what he was thinking about and she wasn't going to go there with him. Selena reminded him of the glimpses Katherine had given him of their daughter. She knew that he was thinking about Rayna and he was looking for a moment of connection with Katherine, but she couldn't give it to him.

"Stop it," she said quietly but firmly.

Anton looked away.

"I never did get to hear all of what happened with Elijah, so I don't care if you two have already heard what happened," Katherine said to Caroline and Bonnie.

"Tell me what the loser told you," Katherine said to the guys.

"Elijah knows that this guy is the one who has been looking for you," Damon said to Katherine, pointing at Anton.

"Good job smart-ass, now you just got yourself put onto his list of people to kill," Katherine said to Anton.

"Apparently dear old Elijah wants to keep you safe, and he wanted to let Stefan and Mr. Bulgaria here know it because he didn't want them to keep worrying about your safety. He said that he was pretty sure that even though Stefan acted like whatever Elijah had planned for you would be okay with him, he knew that Stefan didn't really feel that way. He said he was sure Stefan still cared and that he thought that Stefan might be stressing over finding a way to make sure nothing happened to you after the business with Klaus was over. He said he didn't want anyone to worry about you because there was no need since he wasn't going to let anything happen to you. He's gonna protect you."

"He's gonna protect me. Yeah right," Katherine laughed. "What about all of the threats he's made against my life? Did he forget about those?"

"Patience, Petrova. I'm not done talking yet," Damon said. "Elijah said that he needed to apologize to these two ," Damon told her, pointing at Stefan and Anton. "He said that he needed to apologize for letting them worry. Apparently he let word spread around that he wanted to kill you and made threats face-to-face with you because he's been angry at you and wanted to scare you, but he said that he's never meant any of the bad things he said.

"So yeah, he wanted to apologize to Anton for basically letting him run around like a nutcase trying to find you and worrying about you for no reason. He needed to apologize to Stefan because he says that he's been a cruel little bastard, and that it was on purpose. I guess he wanted to cause him some sort of pain by letting him think that he might kill you."

"What the hell is his problem with Stefan?" Katherine asked.

"He said that he was being so terrible out of jealousy and some sort of twisted love for you," Anton told her. "He's jealous because you loved Stefan and he wished he could have had that with you. If Elijah's to be believed, you have an Original in love with you, Katerina."

To Anton's surprise, she laughed. Oh God, it was a wonderful sight to see. A wonderful sound to hear.

"That's complete and utter bullshit. That man has never loved me. Lusted after me, hell yeah, but love, definitely not. There are five men who I can say with certainty have been in love with me, and Elijah is not one of them. You guys are three of the five- the other two are dead," Katherine said, addressing Stefan, Damon and Anton.

Bonnie and Caroline were in the room and hearing everything, but were not part of the conversation. Despite everything that had happened today, hearing Katherine mention lust and love Bonnie and Caroline couldn't help but wonder about something as stupid as how many different guys Katherine had been with.

"He's not jealous of you because I loved you, Stefan. If he's actually jealous it's because you and me had a whole lot of awesome sex, while I never once let him touch me," Katherine said.

Stefan put his head in his hands. Katherine sometimes had no filter at all.

"You know that Elena's best friends are standing right there, don't you?" Stefan said, gesturing towards Caroline and Bonnie.

"Don't get dramatic, love. I'm only stating facts, not trying to step on any toes here. I'm not trying to make trouble," she said, using an innocent voice.

Caroline shook her head, annoyed, but Bonnie couldn't help but laugh because Katherine's voice sounded anything but innocent.

"Anyway, on a more serious note, none of the things Elijah said, besides maybe the jealous part were thought up to be said by him. Klaus told him to come see you, I guarantee it. He was always the smarter of the two. Elijah would have told Klaus about what I said when I was under compulsion. Elijah would have just kept going on the way he was. It would be Klaus, being paranoid about Elijah not being believed and the possibility that any sort of resistance might pop up on this end, that told Elijah to make up some story to ensure you guys that there's no need to worry about me," Katherine said, sighing.

"I think that Klaus has an interest in our little group here right now, but after Elijah goes back and tells him that he guaranteed your safety, and after my mom lies to him and says everything is perfectly normal and that we're just going about our daily lives- he's gonna go back to not paying much personal attention to Mystic Falls until it's time for the sacrifice," Bonnie said, not in a happy tone. Thinking about her mom just made her angry.

All eyes, except for Caroline's went to Bonnie.

"How about you rewind a few seconds there, and go back to the part where your mother and Klaus were in the same sentence," Damon said, looking at her as if she was crazy for not having mentioned anything yet.

"Obviously I was going to tell everyone," Bonnie said, rolling her eyes at him.

"She'll tell you guys more later, but don't look so freaked out. Her mom may be the worst mother I've ever met in my life, but she's not on Team Original," Caroline said.

"Oh, and how can we be sure of that, Barbie?" Katherine asked, eyes narrowed.

"Bonnie used her magic on her mom, that's how we're sure, Your Bitchiness," Caroline said to Katherine, rolling her eyes.

"Good God, it's like you're both five years old sometimes, I swear," Stefan said to the blonde and brunette vampires.

Katherine grinned at Stefan, and then walked over to Anton as Caroline decided to attempt to tackle Stefan to the ground.

"What the hell was that for, Smiley?" Stefan asked, laughing.

"Just wanted to see if I could catch you off-guard," she answered, laughing too.

Damon pulled Bonnie aside. "Seriously Judgey, what happened with your mom? You didn't sound happy when you just brought her up."

Bonnie sighed. She had tried not to think about the encounter with her mom because it really upset her.

"My dad didn't really know how to do the parent thing. He wasn't great at it, but he made sure I had whatever I needed. I don't think he wanted to be a parent, but he loved me. I've never wanted for any material things, because he gave me pretty much whatever I wanted. He took care of me like that. He didn't do so well in being around here or in the department of showing affection all the time, but he loved me," Bonnie said, rambling a bit, feeling a sudden huge rush of longing for her father, and pain over basically being rejected by her mother.

Seeing her mother made her miss her father more than she already did.

Bonnie didn't notice but her eyes started to shine.

"I kept telling myself before I actually saw her that I wasn't going to let her affect me in any way, and I think I'm failing miserably. She told me that she thought about aborting me more than once, but only couldn't end up going through with it because she couldn't bring herself to just kill me off ... She never wanted me. She didn't come to town because she had some motherly desire to see her kid. She came here because _Klaus _ made her, and because she's planning on selling my house. My own mother is going to technically make me homeless," Bonnie said, laughing, even though she just wanted to cry. "I'm gonna rotate between staying with staying with Elena and Care, then I guess when I turn eighteen, between the money my so-called mother will have to give me from what she makes off selling the house and then money my dad left me I could put a good down payment on another house."

"You're just joking, right?" Damon asked her, a severe hate rising inside of him for Bonnie's mother.

"Nope," Bonnie said quietly, regretting that she had let herself get emotional. "That house is full of memories. It's a link to my dad and Grams… I'm gonna shut up now," Bonnie mumbled.

"Look at me, Bennett," Damon said.

"What?" she said.

"Don't worry about your house. It's gonna stay your house," Damon told her.

"It's not gonna stay my house, Damon. She has the right to sell it, and that's what she's gonna do."

"Read my lips Bon-Bon. That house is not going to get taken away from you," Damon said.

"Listen, I appreciate that you're trying to make me feel better, but there's nothing I can do about this crap, Damon."

"Not true, Judgey. You've got witchy powers that could probably help you out and you have me, the vampire with questionable morals who has no problem breaking rules, being bad, compelling people and causing trouble. I'm sure that between the two of us there will be no problem at all in keeping you in your house. Don't stress so much, you're gonna give yourself wrinkles."

Bonnie took a deep breath and nodded. "Okay, no stressing."

"See," Damon said. "Nothing to worry about, crazy girl."

"Thanks," Bonnie said.

"Before you start to freak out about something next time, you can come bug me. There's quite a good chance that I could help you out," Damon told her.

"Thanks," she said again.

It was time for Anton to leave now, he knew that when he saw Katerina approach.

"Don't worry, I'm gonna get out of here now. Thanks for letting me stay for a bit. And thank you for calling me about Isobel. I was really happy to be able to do something useful. Please say goodbye to Isobel, Selena and Elena for me. Don't hesitate to call me if you need me for anything. You say the word and I'll be here in a flash," Anton said sincerely.

"Bye, Anton," Katherine said.

Anton sighed and turned to leave.

"Don't do anything stupid. Keep a low profile. Elijah knows your face now, so I wouldn't be surprised if he finds a way to keep tabs on you. He knows that you've been searching for me with the intention to help me- don't doubt for a second that you're on his list of people to kill. His intent is to butcher me and anyone with a connection to me on the night of the sacrifice. Don't do anything to bring his attention back to you and make him change his mind and stray from the path of waiting until the sacrifice night to kill you. Stay off his radar, and we'll have him and Klaus dead before they can do any real damage to us," Katherine said, feeling tired.

Anton had the tendency to do that. Having him around was always a weird experience. There was always a lot of emotions running around, and it was just a tiring experience.

This guy craved her forgiveness, acceptance and love. She couldn't give him the last, but she had told him she would try to work on the first two. It was hard. She didn't hate him now. She wasn't sitting around wishing for his death or anything, but she didn't like having to be around him often because it was still too much.

"I promise that I'll be careful," he told her as he closed the door behind him on his way out.

Katherine walked back over to the others and found Caroline looking miserable. It wasn't an exaggeration to say that she was on the verge of tears.

"What's wrong over here?" Katherine asked lazily.

"Caroline just realized that her bracelet is lost," Stefan said.

"Don't you dare make some sort of rude comment right now," Caroline warned Katherine. "My dad gave me that bracelet. It used to be my grandmother's. She was going to give it to me herself, but she passed away before she had the chance to. My dad gets me a new charm every year on my birthday."

"No worries, babe," Bonnie told her friend. "We're gonna find it. I'll use my powers if we have to."

"Stefan, I don't know who it was, but someone beat us to it. I was leaving school and I saw Michael Zillio. Someone already kicked his ass," Tyler said, walking into the Salvatore house, not expecting to see who he saw."

Bonnie shook her head, but she couldn't help but smile. "You two were going to go kick Zillio's ass for me?" Bonnie asked, looking at Stefan and Tyler.

"You weren't supposed to know," Tyler told her. "But yeah."

"Good!" Caroline said, rubbing her eyes.

"What's wrong, Care?" Tyler asked, seeing that something was wrong.

She held up her empty wrist.

"Smile, Forbes," Tyler said, sending her a grin. "I forgot my phone in my locker so I couldn't call you, but I was heading to your house right after this place. Look what I found," Tyler said, holding up her missing bracelet.

"Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you," Caroline said, squealing with delight as she launched herself at him. "You rock, Ty," she said, giving him a big hug.

"No problem. I knew it was yours as soon as I saw it," Tyler said, enjoying the feeling of having his arms around her.

"Thank you, again," she said, planting a kiss on his cheek.

Damon was about to make a teasing comment, but Bonnie elbowed him hard in the side to keep him from saying anything.

Katherine was smirking and Stefan knew she was about to make a comment to make the moment awkward for Tyler and Caroline, so he decided to stop that.

"I think I found that spider you were complaining about, Katherine," Stefan said.

"Where?" she asked, head whipping in Stefan's direction.

"Just kidding," he said, laughing.

"Jackass," she said, throwing a pillow from the couch at him.

"Damon, coming into my house to find pictures of high-schoolers so you can find them and beat them up is not okay. I was at the school as Michael Zillio was being helped off of the football field," Alaric said, walking into the house.

"You did it?" Bonnie said, looking at Damon.

"I don't know what you're talking about," Damon said, not trying all that hard to look innocent.

Stefan let out a laugh.

"I want to make it perfectly clear that I can take care of myself just fine. I don't need anyone to defend me or kick ass on my behalf," Bonnie said, staring at Damon, Stefan, and Tyler. "But Zillio's a jackass, so I can't say that I'm upset to know that he got his ass kicked. I'm gonna say thanks, but let's make sure this was a one-time only thing, okay?" Bonnie said, trying to keep a straight face.

"What did the guy do to piss everyone off?" Alaric asked.

"It doesn't matter. Let's just move on to something else," Bonnie said.

"It's good you two are here, actually," Alaric said to Bonnie and Caroline. "I've been calling Elena, but she's not answering her phone. Do you know where she is? There's something I need to talk to her about."

Katherine was about to come up with a lie so that she could get Alaric out of the house and away from Isobel because she knew that Elena's mother couldn't handle dealing with Alaric right now, but something made Elena let out a loud laugh from the kitchen, and that little plan went straight to hell.

Alaric heard the laugh and headed for the kitchen.

"Shit!" Katherine muttered.

Alaric walked into the kitchen and found Elena, Isobel, and a little girl sitting around the table.

Isobel looked up and saw Alaric. Her jaw dropped. She was not ready for this. She was not ready to tell him about Selena.

Alaric's eyes were drawn to the little girl. He couldn't take his eyes off of her. She was a pretty little thing who looked a lot like Isobel.

"Hi," he said to the little girl.

She gave him a little wave.

"Oh my God," Isobel mumbled.

If this little girl wasn't Isobel's kid, he would poke out his own eye.

She looked to be about 4 years old.

If this was Isobel's child, and if she was about 4 years old, then this little girl…

Alaric glared at Isobel, and tried to keep calm. "I need to talk to you alone, _right now, _Isobel. Meet me outside in a minute. You have some explaining to do," Alaric said, walking out of the kitchen.

Isobel rubbed her temples as she got up. This was not going to be fun. He figured it out. He took a look at Selena, and figured out that she was her daughter. He did an age estimation and came to the conclusion that the little girl was his daughter, too.

"I'll be back in a bit," Isobel told her daughters as she walked away.

"Who is that guy?" Selena asked.

Elena did not want to have to deal with telling Selena that Alaric was her father. She was feeling quite overwhelmed. She needed to distract Selena.

"Caroline," Elena called out.

"Yeah," she said.

"You have any of that nail polish you showed Selena with you by any chance?" Elena asked.

"Not with me, sorry" Caroline said.

Katherine heard that and dashed upstairs to her room.

"Katherine-"

Bonnie walked into the kitchen, and Katherine came in right behind her, holding six different bottles of nail polish.

Elena looked partially relieved. The nail polish would help keep any questions from Selena at bay for a little bit.

"We are going to have tons of fun," Caroline said to Selena.

"You can have whatever colours you want on your nails," Bonnie said, chiming in, trying to keep Selena's focus off of Elena and Katherine, who were sharing worried looks.

They both had a feeling that Isobel was not going to come back from her conversation with Alaric in the happiest of moods.


	75. Chapter 75

**o-0-o-0-o I'm pretty sure everyone is getting sick of reading another explanation before the newest chapter starts, telling you why it has taken so long for the chapter to be put out, but I feel like I owe you an explanation. I don't want to go into details because it's a subject that is painful to think about, but I will tell you that I've been trying to deal with the death of two different people. I'm sure you can imagine that my mind was just not ready to work on the story for awhile. I tried and just couldn't manage it for awhile. I had planned on not making you guys wait long, so I'm very sorry that this didn't come sooner. I'm feeling better now. As always, please read and review. I've wrote some of the next chapter, so let me know if you're still enjoying the story to give me that extra kick in the butt to get the next chapter out nice and quick for you guys. I really hope you all will enjoy the chapter. Thanks so much to Mr41, xc2010, David Fishwick, West of the Boulevard, laugh4life, ExecutionerKain, omgyourmom, TheInstantClassic, AkashaHallows27, Anna-Lisa, Marie, Ashtchoum, Hooked-On-TVD and the Guest reviewers for all your comments. I love hearing from you o-0-o-0-o**

"Get in the car, Isobel. We're not gonna talk about this here," Alaric said, practically yelling, opening the door of his car.

"Calm down and shut up," Isobel told him, trying not to yell, getting inside.

Alaric started the car and quickly got the car moving, trying to calm himself down.

"I have a daughter and you never told me. Four years and you never said a damn word! How the hell could you do that to me, Isobel?" Alaric said, practically growling, failing miserably at trying to keep himself calm, and failing miserably at paying attention to driving.

As if he was driving for the first time in his life, Alaric ended up driving straight into a tree and hitting his head.

Isobel heard him groan and saw him start to bleed.

She was sure he would be fine, because it wasn't a big crash or anything, but there was no way she was going to go anywhere with him in that car right now. She wasn't going to let him drive.

She got out of the car and walked over to the driver's side and pulled him out, bit into her wrist and shoved it into his mouth, making sure he swallowed her blood. She saw the cut on his head start to disappear.

Stefan, Damon and Tyler came out of the house when they heard the noise from the car hitting the tree.

"What the hell, Isobel? What did you do?" Damon said, making his way over.

"I didn't do a damn thing. Your idiot buddy, Alaric here, drove into a friggin' tree," Isobel said. "Get him inside. If he wants to talk, we're talking here and all of you can just keep your noses out of our business," Isobel said to Damon, giving him a dirty look.

"Are you capable of not being a bitch?" Damon said, glaring at her.

Anger was rising inside of Isobel at Alaric. She was mad that he thought so little of her. She was pissed off that he thought she had been keeping Selena a secret, knowing she was alive all this time. If she had known she was alive she would have told him.

Isobel pulled out her phone and dialled Elena's number.

Elena answered and Isobel got straight to the point. "Put Bonnie on the phone, please."

Elena passed her phone to Bonnie, shrugging as Bonnie sent her a questioning look.

"Yeah?" Bonnie said.

"I'm coming back in the house with Alaric. Can you make sure Selena doesn't hear anything? I need to have a talk with Alaric," Isobel said, watching Damon help Alaric inside.

"Sure," Bonnie said, hanging up.

"Who was that?" Selena asked, looking at Bonnie.

Bonnie sent Elena a look, and Katherine and Caroline figured that it would be a good idea to draw Selena's attention back to them and the nail polish rather than Bonnie.

"Cutie, what's the other colour you want us to put on your nails?" Katherine said, bringing Selena's focus back to her.

Bonnie channeled her powers and focused her attention on Selena, quietly chanting the necessary words to make the spell work.

Bonnie knew that the spell worked quickly because she heard Isobel and Alaric's raised voices very clearly, as did Caroline, Elena and Katherine judging by the looks on their faces, while it hadn't even seemed to register with Selena at all.

Isobel and Alaric's stomping footsteps could be heard heading down to the basement.

Katherine and Elena were looking at each other and Caroline and Bonnie could both tell that the other two weren't really going to be much of a help in keeping Selena occupied. Elena and Katherine's attention was caught by Alaric and Isobel, and they couldn't help it.

"Hey, you two," Caroline said, getting Katherine and Elena's attention. "Why don't you both go see if you can find even more colours of nail polish. I want to go a little bit wild."

Elena sent Caroline a quick smile, knowing that her friend was giving her an excuse to get out of the kitchen and be totally nosy by listening in on her mother's conversation.

"I think we should try to do a different colour for every nail. Do you think so too, Caroline?" Selena asked.

"Absolutely," Caroline answered as Elena and Katherine walked into the other room.

"What do you think, Bonnie? Do you like my idea, too?" Selena questioned.

"I definitely like your idea. I think it's awesome," Bonnie told her.

Selena looked pleased and was easily occupied for the time being.

o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o

"I'm thinking that Isobel probably meant for Bonnie to make it so none of us could hear it, but just put the emphasis on Selena. I'm pretty sure that she wouldn't want us all listening to this," Elena said, biting her lip, listening to her mother and Alaric yelling.

"It kinda sounds like your mom's gonna kick his ass any minute now," Tyler said.

"He'd deserve it if she did," Katherine said. "Honestly, I'm holding myself back from doing it myself. He's being an asshole."

"I applaud your restraint," Stefan said, half jokingly and half seriously. "I don't really want to have to get rid of blood spatter on the walls later."

Katherine sent him a grin.

"Leave Ric alone, Katherine," Damon said. "Besides, haven't you already kicked enough ass for today anyway?" Damon said, referring to the two men she had killed at the bar earlier.

"There's always room for more ass-kicking, Damon. _You_ know that. And plus, this is different," Katherine said, lowering her voice to make sure there was no chance that Bonnie would overhear from the other room. "I cut the balls off of, drained dry and burned the bodies of the bastards in the bar. I'd only knock Ricky-boy around a bit. Big difference," Katherine said with a smirk on her face.

A look of discomfort crossed all three males' faces at the mention of the 'cutting off'. Elena couldn't help but let out a small laugh in spite of the horrible image that was now in her head.

"Ric's got a right to be mad, Katherine. Are you saying that he doesn't?" Damon asked, sounding annoyed.

"It's so cute- you sticking up for your little buddy," Katherine said, rolling her eyes. "I didn't say he didn't have a right to be mad, he does, to an extent. I'm saying that he just doesn't have a right to be a little asshole."

"He's making assumptions when he doesn't even know anything about what happened. He's saying horrible things to Isobel without knowing anything. That's not fair, Damon," Elena said, sighing, defending her mother.

Katherine was pleased to hear Elena defend Isobel.

"She gave birth to his kid and never told him. How many years have gone by without her saying anything? How the hell is anyone gonna try to paint Ric as the bad guy right now?" Damon said, irritated.

He wasn't sure exactly why, maybe it was just because he really didn't like Isobel, but pretty much any word that wasn't in defense of Alaric right now was pissing him off.

"Maybe she was trying to spare the guy some pain, Damon. And I'm sure she was in a hell of a lot of her own pain. It probably stayed with her," Stefan said to his brother.

"Oh come on, Stefan," Damon said, throwing up his hands. "She's selfish. She doesn't give a shit about his feelings."

Damon was really getting on Katherine's nerves at the moment. He didn't like Isobel, fine, but he didn't need to be so stupidly stubborn in his attitude towards her in a situation that he had no experience with or knowledge of.

"You're a guy. You can never fully understand what it's like to be pregnant and have a baby. And that in itself isn't so crazy because it's just not something that your body can do. It's been a hell of a long time, but I remember being pregnant and I remember giving birth like it happened yesterday.

"For the better part of a year there was a little person growing inside of me. She was absolutely, completely dependent on me and my body. Everything that I did would have some sort of effect on her. My stomach ballooned out. I threw up every friggin' day for three and a half months straight. Some days I just didn't want to move because I felt so drained of energy. My back hurt most of the time. My breasts got huge, heavy and sore, and my emotions were all over the place, and my baby was quite the little kicker. Common smells started to turn my stomach, and things that I used to love eating started to completely turn me off. I had weird cravings- things that I never ate before or after the baby. I was tired a lot of the time, and sometimes the smallest thing would make me cry.

"A week before my daughter was born, one of my younger cousins asked me if I wished that I could go back in time so that I never got pregnant, and I told her no. Sure, certain things I would definitely want to change, but I would never wish to go back and not have her. Despite all the bad crap that came with pregnancy, and trust me, there was _a lot_, I would have gone through it all again because the love you have for your kid is something that is immense. It's easy and hard to describe at the same time. It's untouchable.

"You spend months waiting for the day when your child is going to be born. You know that that particular day will probably be one of the most painful, if not _the _most painful day of your life, and it doesn't even matter because what you're thinking about is just being able to meet your baby.

"My point in all of this is that Isobel loved her baby like I loved mine. She wanted that baby. She couldn't wait to meet that baby, and then she thought she died. A part of Isobel died too. She was in _misery_. Why would she want to inflict that any part of that misery on Alaric, too? Why would she tell him about a kid that she thought was dead? It wasn't like he was going to be able to see or hold that baby, so why put him through that pain too? Don't be a jackass, Damon- not about shit that you don't understand."

That seemed to shut Damon up. Not another word came out of his mouth as Isobel and Alaric continued to shout.

o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o

"Did you bring her here from wherever the hell you've been hiding her for four years because I told you I want to marry Jenna? Are you jealous or something, Isobel? It's pretty damn low to be using a child because you're jealous. Are you that much of a bitch?"

"Get over yourself. Ric. I don't care what the hell goes on in your love life. I swear to God, if you don't shut the hell up in the next twenty seconds, I'm gonna smash your face in," Isobel said, gritting her teeth and clenching her fists.

Alaric opened his mouth, but then quickly shut it after seeing the look of anger on Isobel's face.

Isobel closed her eyes for a second and took a deep breath before starting to tell him what really happened.

"Don't interrupt me. I don't like talking about this, so I'm only going to tell you this once," she told him, looking him straight in the eye.

"I was away for work when I found out I was pregnant, and I didn't find out until four months into it. I was gonna be away for another four months and then I would have been back at home with you for the last month. In that month, it was my plan for us to get ready for the baby together.

"I was happy, Ric. I was excited. I wanted the baby. There was never a second during my pregnancy that I intended to keep her a secret from you. The only reason I didn't tell you about her right away when I found out was because I wanted us both to just focus on our work and do the best job possible so that there was no chance later on that our jobs would need us to stay on longer. I wanted us to both focus on what we were doing, and then we were gonna have that month together to prepare for our daughter.

"If I told you that I was pregnant, you would have been distracted. I wanted you focused on what you needed to do so that later we wouldn't have any distractions. You were always going to know about the baby. I was always going to tell you. We were going to raise her together," Isobel said, pausing for a moment.

Alaric was staring at her, waiting for the rest.

"There's a reason why I never told you about her. I didn't want to bring you pain. I didn't want you to feel even a small fraction of the pain I felt… I went into labour early, Ric. It happened on the day that I was supposed to come home."

Alaric was remembering that day now. He had been expecting to see her that day, but he had received a call from her instead. She had told him that she would be home in a few days, instead. She had mentioned something about needing a few more days to finish up the last bit of her work. He remembered thinking that Isobel had been crying from the way her voice sounded, but she had told him that it was only tiredness.

"One of the women I worked with delivered the baby. I passed out right after. When I woke, she told me that the baby was dead… I had talked to this woman about Elena. I told her that I had Elena when I was young and that I had to give her away because me and John were too young to raise a kid. She knew that I had already lost a child, in a way, so she wanted to spare me having to deal with losing another one, in a different way. At least that's what she had told me at the time.

"She told me that Selena was dead, and that she had buried the little body, so that I could be spared the pain of having to do it. I thought our daughter was dead, Ric. I thought she was dead until only hours ago... I was miserable. I was so depressed when I thought I lost her. It hurt so badly. I didn't want to bring that pain onto you, and why should I? You didn't know about her, so I decided that you would never know because I didn't want you to be sad, too. Me not telling you about her was never about hurting you, it was about me protecting you from being hurt.

"I didn't know that she was alive. I didn't bring her here because you told me you were gonna marry Jenna. _I_ didn't even bring her here."

Isobel's eyes were wet, and Alaric clearly saw this.

Alaric took a deep breath, and tried to pull himself together. He was trying to process everything.

"I would have wanted to know, Isobel. Even though you thought we'd lost her forever, I had a right to know. She was mine, too… I would have wanted to be able to grieve with you. I would have wanted to be able to try to make you feel better." Alaric said quietly, his voice sounding a whole lot different than it had only moments earlier.

"I didn't want to hurt you," Isobel said again, finding it hard to look at Alaric. The anger she was feeling towards him was quickly fading away.

"You shouldn't have had to go through the loss on your own, Iz."

Isobel didn't respond, she was feeling emotionally drained.

Both of them remained quiet for a couple minutes, until something finally clicked for Alaric.

"That was it, wasn't it?"

"What are you talking about?" Isobel asked him.

"You weren't the same when you came back home, and now I know why. You were messed up over the baby, and-"

"And then I messed everything up with you and me. The end," Isobel said, finishing for him, heading towards the stairs. This was too much emotion to deal with today. Far too much.

"How did she get here? What happened to her?" he asked, following her.

"I'm tired, Ric. Elena or Katherine can explain the rest," she said, beginning to walk up the stairs.

"You tell me, Isobel."

"No. One of them can tell you."

Katherine heard Isobel's footsteps, and yanked Elena away from her spot close to the stairs.

Elena grunted in annoyance, but didn't say anything. She didn't want Isobel to know that she had been listening in on her conversation either.

Elena went to stand next to Stefan, who took her hand into his own. This made Elena smile. She couldn't even explain how much she had missed something so simple as holding Stefan's hand while they were broken up.

Even though the question she was going to ask was to create the appearance that the group in the living room had been carrying on a discussion and not listening to Alaric and Isobel's conversation, Katherine, remembering that Bonnie had mentioned her mother, was also genuinely curious as to why Bonnie's mother had showed up in Mystic Falls.

"So why is our resident witch's mommy back in town?" Katherine asked, directing the question at Elena.

"I hate that woman. I _really _hate that woman," Elena said, remembering the things that Bonnie's mother had said. "Caroline wanted to kick her ass, and so did I, but Bonnie was so thrown off by her mom, that I didn't want to make things worse."

"Okay, Bonnie's mom is a bitch. I got that part. What the hell is she doing back in town?" Katherine asked again.

"Besides being sent here by Klaus, she came because she wants to sell Bon-Bon's house," Damon said.

"And where is Bonnie gonna live after that?" Katherine asked, as Isobel and Alaric appeared at the top of the stairs.

"Katherine, Ric's got some questions about Selena. Give him some answers," Isobel said, walking over to the group, taking Elena by the arm, and heading into the kitchen, not even waiting for Katherine to respond.

"Please and thanks, Katherine. I'd really appreciate it," Katherine said sarcastically, as Isobel left her to answer Alaric's questions.

Bonnie and Caroline came out of the kitchen and back into the living room, leaving Elena, Isobel and Selena alone to talk.

"Alrighty- Witchy, Barbie, Wolf-Boy, I think it's time for you guys to take a hike," Katherine said, motioning them towards the door.

Neither of the three put up a fight. They were pretty sure Alaric wouldn't really want an audience while he talked with Katherine and they were absolutely sure that he wouldn't want an audience later when he would sit down and talk with Selena.

On the way out, Bonnie pulled Damon aside for a quick second. "Come see me later," she told him. "I'm gonna need you."

"Let me guess, we're gonna be playing 'Damon watches and wonders if vampires can have heart attacks while Bonnie nearly kills herself'?"

"We are," Bonnie said, grinning, walking out the door.

"Oh yay. My night's gonna be tons of fun," Damon said sarcastically, mumbling to himself.

"Tell me everything, Katherine," Alaric said.

Stefan and Damon gave each other a look, questioning as to whether they should leave or not.

"Answer me, Katherine," Alaric said, grabbing her arm.

"Don't touch me," Katherine told him, narrowing her eyes, easily breaking his grip on her, shoving him half-way across the room.

"Oh come on, Katherine. Seriously?" Damon said. "You had to throw him across the room?"

"He shouldn't have grabbed me," she said, smirking at Damon.

Damon mumbled something under his breath

"Stefan. Damon. Stick around," Katherine said, looking over at the brothers, knowing that they were trying to figure out if they should leave. "You can keep your friend here from pissing me off."

Alaric got up off the ground and grunted something as he walked back over to Katherine.

"Sit down," she said to him, sighing. She wasn't exactly thrilled about talking to Alaric.

"If you want to know something, ask me a specific question. Get on with it," she told him, taking a seat on the couch.

Alaric was pacing as he tried to decide what exactly to ask first.

"Oh, for God's sake, sit down," Katherine said, watching him pace. "You're making me dizzy."

"Sit down, man," Damon told Alaric.

Alaric finally sat on the sofa opposite where Katherine was sitting. Damon took a seat next to his friend, and Stefan sat down beside Katherine.

"What happened to her? Where the hell has my daughter been all this time?" Alaric asked. Katherine noticed that his eyes were shining. "How did she end up here? Has her life been good? Has she been taken care of?"

Katherine softened a little bit at seeing Alaric with watery eyes. This guy just found out he had a daughter. Of course he was emotional.

"How far did Isobel get when she was talking to you?" Katherine asked him, keeping up with Alaric's impression that no one had heard his conversation with Isobel in the basement.

"The woman who delivered the baby told Isobel that she had died, and that she buried the baby for her," Alaric answered, staring intently at his hands.

Damon didn't really give a crap about too many people, but Ric was his buddy. Damon looked at his friend and sighed. He felt really bad for Alaric.

"That woman turned out to be a dirty little lying bitch. She lied and took your daughter. Her husband was a low-life dirt-bag who owed a lot of money to some people. One of the men he owed had a girlfriend who wanted a baby, but couldn't have one of her own… I'm guessing you can figure the rest of that out," Katherine said.

Alaric took a deep breath and nodded. "His debt was paid off with my daughter."

Katherine nodded.

"The people she was given to- were they good to her? Did they take care of her?" Alaric asked, afraid that he was going to hear something he wouldn't like.

Katherine started to lie. She wasn't about to tell Selena's father that his daughter had not had a good life and that the people who had her were not good to her for the past year. Katherine remembered the sadness and rage that had filled her when her own daughter had told her that the woman who raised her had told her that she didn't love her, and when Rayna had told her that the woman was mean to her.

Even though she didn't care about Alaric at all except for his ties to Isobel, Katherine had no desire to make the man feel worse than he was already feeling at the moment.

"They were shit-heads for what they did, but yeah, they were always good to her. They took good care of her," Katherine told him.

"Good," Alaric said quietly. He was quiet for a moment before speaking again. He seemed to have realized something, and when he did speak, he looked straight into Katherine's eyes. His voice held an angry, accusatory tone now. "How do you know that, though?" he asked her, already coming up with his own answer in his head, an answer that made him hate Katherine.

"Why would you know that? You knew where she was all this time, didn't you? You bitch. How the hell could you do that? Isobel is supposed to be your family! You just let some other people raise-"

Stefan cut Alaric off. "Stop it, Ric. I know that your emotions are all over the place, but what you're saying is just wrong. If Katherine knew that Selena was alive and where she was, I guarantee you that she would have brought her back to Isobel."

Alaric didn't listen to a word.

"How the hell is it that the both of you were in love with her? She's a bitch!" Alaric growled at Stefan and Damon. He now had it in his head that Katherine had been keeping his daughter's existence a secret and he wanted to strangle her. He was absolutely furious.

"Stefan's right, man," Damon said, his voice less sharp than Stefan's had been. "She wouldn't have let someone else raise Isobel's kid."

Alaric pissed Katherine off immensely. He was talking like an idiot.

"Listen to the Salvatores, dumbass!" Katherine hissed.

"How could you be so evil? You had a kid. You had a daughter and if you ever really loved her, there's no way you could be like this, you couldn't do something like this to someone else who had a child. You couldn't have ever really loved your kid, and not tell us about Selena. If you loved her, you could sympathize "

Before Alaric could say another word, Katherine's hands were wrapped around his throat. She shoved him backwards into the wall, keeping her hands wrapped around his neck, squeezing.

People really needed to learn to keep their mouths shut where her daughter was concerned.

Alaric was struggling for breath, and any attempts he was making at pushing Katherine off of him were accomplishing absolutely nothing.

Stefan and Damon both had to pull Katherine away from Alaric, and that only really worked because Katherine heard someone coming back into the house, and removed her hands from around Alaric's neck in case it was someone who shouldn't be seeing this.

The person coming back in the house did see Katherine's hands wrapped around Alaric's neck, though. Anton was back.

"What the hell is going on?" Anton asked.

"What are you doing back here, Anton?" Katherine asked impatiently, taking a deep breath, trying to calm herself down.

"I know I said I was going to leave, and I swear I will, but I just wanted to talk to you. Please-"

Alaric didn't let Anton finish his sentence before addressing Katherine again. "Part of me can't even blame you for what a bitch you are, Katherine. This guy forced himself on you and got you pregnant. You couldn't really have loved your daughter because of it, but that doesn't mean you had any right to keep someone else's child from her parents if you knew where she was. You're disgusting," Alaric said, full of anger, continuing on in his rant.

"Shut up, Ric. You're out of line. Leave her the hell alone," Stefan said, seriously snapping at Alaric.

Damon groaned. Alaric was digging himself into a deep hole, acting like a complete idiot.

For the second time two in two minutes, Alaric had someone's hands wrapped around his throat. This pair was far bigger than Katherine's had been. They were Anton's.

"Don't ever let me hear you talk to her like that again," Anton growled. "Do you understand me?"

"Yes he does," Damon said for Alaric, making eye contact with his friend, telling him to stop acting crazy. "Let him go."

Anton ignored Damon, so Damon turned to Katherine, urging her to tell Anton to stop. Katherine rolled her eyes.

"Come on Katherine, tell him to let him go. I swear if Alaric says another stupid thing to you I'll kick him out," Stefan said, looking at Katherine.

She was going to pull Anton away from Alaric eventually, if only to not give Isobel something to freak out over, even without Stefan saying anything, but she spoke up a little earlier than she had planned because of Stefan.

"Let him go, Anton," Katherine said, sounding bored.

At Katherine's word, Anton stepped away from Alaric.

"Why do you defend her? I'm sure she hates your guts," Ric said, rubbing his throat.

"Her hating me doesn't change my feelings. I love her. Plain and simple," Anton said, shrugging. "And even if I didn't love her- even if the only thing that connected me to her was the fact that she gave birth to my daughter, that alone is reason enough to defend her and show her respect."

Katherine looked down at her hands, feeling awkward, wanting very much to be in another place right now. Everyone knew that she and Anton had a daughter, but it was just weird to hear it talked about in front of other people, especially because it always brought up a lot of emotion for her.

"And if you have any respect or love for _your _daughter's mother, you would make sure, without anyone having to tell you, to be a lot nicer to mine. Isobel loves her," Anton said, referring to Katherine. "And none of the three people I can hear talking in the kitchen right now would even _exist_ without her... Isobel told me a bit about you. She said that you were a good guy. She said you were kind. All I've seen of you here so far is a giant asshole, though.

Alaric had Anton worked up and furious. He couldn't stand to see Katerina disrespected. He wouldn't stand for it.

"Do you think Kater- Katherine needs or wants a reminder of how I got her pregnant, you insensitive little shit? She doesn't need one. What I did was horrible. That encounter is etched perfectly and permanently into her memory. She has a great reason to hate me. She doesn't need you to rub what happened in her face... I'm generally a pretty nice guy. I don't like to treat people badly. I don't really like violence all that much, but if I ever hear you talk to her like you did today, again, I'll kill you. I'm not making a threat. I'm simply stating a fact."

Alaric didn't say a word, and Katherine didn't even _know_ what to say.

Anton took his gaze off Alaric and moved it to Katherine. "Do you mind if I go to the kitchen for a moment to say goodbye this time?" he asked her, his tone changing greatly from what it had been when he was talking to Alaric.

"Go ahead," Katherine said, sighing.

"Can I speak to you when I'm done, please?"

If someone doubted the truth of Anton's words about Katherine, even hearing the sincerity in his voice, they couldn't possibly doubt that he loved her if they saw his face when he looked at her.

"Please?" he repeated.

"Okay," she said reluctantly. Interacting with Anton would probably be so much easier if he hated her.

"And then I promise I won't come back unless you need me here."

"Okay, whatever," she mumbled. When was this day going to end? Seriously, talking with Anton was emotionally taxing.

Anton walked to the kitchen, and Katherine tried to put her emotionless mask back on again, but Stefan saw her face before that happened. Stefan had been watching her for pretty much the whole time that Anton was speaking. She was pretty good at hiding her emotions, but he knew that everything affected her. She liked to appear as if nothing affected her, but Stefan knew better.

He pulled her off to the side a bit. "Are you okay?" he asked her.

"I'm fine, Stefan," she said, trying to smile.

"Liar," he whispered, not unkindly.

She managed a real smile. She shrugged her shoulders.

Katherine liked to hide her emotions, but it wasn't so easy with Stefan around.

"I got a smile. Good stuff," Stefan said, laughing a little.

Katherine rolled her eyes, but wasn't annoyed with him at all. Stefan cared, and Katherine couldn't lie and say that she didn't like it.

Alaric looked at Damon as Anton walked into the kitchen. Damon just shook his head. "For someone who's supposed to be smart, you sure can act like a complete dumbass sometimes. Sit down and try not to talk too much," Damon said, pushing Alaric onto the sofa.

"Saltzman here had a temporary moronic episode. The idiocy is over with, so if you would tell him a bit about the kid and why you have any information about her, he would be very, very grateful," Damon said, once again taking a seat next to Alaric.

Stefan and Katherine sat back down, too. And Katherine locked her eyes onto Alaric's.

"You don't know shit about me or my life, so you keep your damn mouth shut. Say one more stupid thing to me and watch what I'll do to you. I promise you it won't be pretty. Isobel already used up her 'Please leave him alone. He's my daughter's father' card on John Gilbert to save me from killing him. She doesn't have another one of those cards with me," Katherine said, making sure to flash some fang at Alaric.

Everyone was quiet for a few minutes, but Alaric finally spoke. "I'm sorry," he said, finally calming himself down, coming back to his senses.

"How do you know?" Alaric asked again, clearing his throat, repeating his earlier question.

"I know because I went into her head. I saw what she's seen and experienced," Katherine said, giving him a dirty look.

"How did she get here?"

"The people she was with just couldn't handle raising a child anymore. Somehow they knew about Elena being Selena's sister and decided they were going to bring Selena to her. They looked up some information and found out that she lived here in Mystic Falls. They sent Selena here with two men. The men basically asked around town about Elena, and were told if they couldn't find her at her own house, then this is where she would be. They dropped her off here with a letter saying that the little girl was Elena Gilbert's sister and that she would need to take care of her now. They didn't leave any contact information, of course."

"She looked happy before, when I saw her for that minute," Alaric said, smiling to himself, remembering the little girl's beautiful face.

"She likes everyone she's met. And she's got quite the attachment to me already, so I'd be extra nice to me if I were you. She listens to me. It would be a shame if I had to tell her that her daddy wasn't very nice to me," Katherine said, smirking.

Alaric had been an asshole, and emotional over learning about his daughter or not, Katherine wanted to make him regret his words, and her own words just seemed to do the trick perfectly. The idle and not so subtle threat really got Alaric's attention and he did not look happy at all. In fact he looked scared.

No one wanted their kid to think that they were a bad person, especially someone who would be pretty much meeting their kid for the first time.

"I said I was sorry," Alaric told her.

Katherine laughed. She wasn't going to turn Selena against Alaric, but it was amusing to watch the man squirm.

"You look like you're going to piss your pants, Saltzman. Calm down," Katherine said, blowing a strand of hair out of her face.

"What does Selena know about me and Isobel?"

"She knew nothing, but Elena and Isobel have been talking with her so I'm guessing they told her a little bit," Katherine answered.

"Does-"

"You're annoying the hell out of me. Stop with the questions, just go into the kitchen and actually properly meet your kid. That's the most important thing right now. Get out of my face," Katherine said, dismissing Alaric.

"But-"

"Forget the damn questions. Go see your daughter. She's a sweet kid who's thrilled to know that she's got a family in town. That's really the only thing you need to know. Nothing else matters. Just be glad that you've got a happy kid, focus on that and not on questions about things in her life before. Go see her so that this conversation can be over and me and you can go back to not saying two words to each other. I liked that so much better. Your voice is annoying as hell," Katherine said impatiently.

Alaric started to speak again, but Katherine didn't let him get a word out. Anton came out of the kitchen where Elena, Selena and Isobel were, and Katherine pushed Alaric straight into it.


	76. Chapter 76

**o-0-o-0-o-0 Thanks to all the Guest reviewers, Mr41, Tina, Carcar234, omgyourmom, iwantbirthdaycake, Hooked-On-TVD, TheInstantClassic, Anna-Lisa, Marie and Raya for the reviews. You are all awesome. This chapter had to get re-written (that was a major chore) since I lost the memory stick thing that I had it saved on. Here's a random side-note/update on the happenings in my life. I got roped into planning a wedding. So along with writing and then losing my chapter and having to remember/rewrite everything I wanted in it, I've been putting together a wedding for someone. My friend roped me into it and she wants a wedding at the very beginning of December, so I've been crazy busy. My life hasn't seemed to slow down lately. Here's the new chapter after all that craziness. I hope you'll all enjoy it. Leave me a review and let me know what you think o-0-o-0-o-0**

Alaric got pushed into the kitchen looking like a deer caught in the headlights.

Was he eager to speak to his daughter? Absolutely. Was he scared at the same time? Yes.

He was excited and nervous as hell all at once.

Isobel took a deep breath when she saw Alaric. She had only really just managed to explain to Selena, with Elena's help, that she was her mother. She hadn't got around to mentioning Alaric or what had happened to result in Selena getting taken away from her.

"You're back," Selena said, looking up at Alaric.

"Yeah," he said, sending her a nervous smile.

"What's your name?"

"My name is Alaric."

"My name is Selena."

"It's a beautiful name," Alaric told her, unable to keep the smile off of his face, despite being nervous. This little girl was just the perfect little thing.

"My mom picked it," the little girl said happily, looking at Isobel.

Isobel felt like she was going to melt and turn into a puddle on the floor when Selena looked at her. Her daughter looked so happy and she had said 'my mom.'

Isobel was pretty sure that she was going to cry if she looked at the little girl for another second. Isobel was actually very embarrassed with how emotional she was being lately. She wasn't like this normally. Then again, she wasn't normally around her daughters or their fathers either.

"Excuse me for a minute," Isobel said, getting up quickly and leaving the room.

Alaric looked at Elena, and all she could do was shrug.

o-o-o-o-o-o-o

"What the hell are you doing?" Katherine asked when she saw Isobel come out of the kitchen. "I didn't send daughter number two's daddy into the kitchen so that you could run out of it."

"I just need a minute," Isobel mumbled, heading for the washroom.

"Did Ricky-boy say something stupid already?" Katherine asked, getting up to follow Isobel.

With Katherine getting up to follow Isobel, that left Stefan, Damon and Anton alone in the living room.

"Why did you come back here again?" Stefan said, looking at Anton.

"Like I said, I wanted to speak-"

Stefan cut him off. Stefan just didn't like this guy. He didn't want him in his house and he didn't want him near Katherine. Stefan could not get passed what Anton had done to Katherine all those years ago.

"She doesn't need you bothering her. If you had something to say you could have picked up the phone and called her. If you ever listened to a word she said to you, you would know that being around you isn't exactly a fun experience for her."

"It's nice that you're trying to look out for her. I'm glad for it, honestly," Anton said.

Damon looked from Anton to his brother and wondered if this was going to turn ugly.

"But this isn't your business, Stefan. I have things that I need to say to her, and they're best said in person. It won't take very long. I'll be out of your home shortly. Don't worry," Anton said calmly.

Stefan clenched his fists and Damon called out for Katherine.

"What?" Katherine said, coming back in the room.

"Hurry up and talk to this guy here so he can get the hell out of our house." Damon said, pointing at Anton.

Katherine noticed that Stefan didn't look very pleased.

Elena came out of the kitchen, looking quite annoyed.

"Where did Isobel go?" Elena asked.

"She's in the washroom," Katherine said, keeping her eyes on Stefan.

"What the hell is she doing in there? She's got a little kid in the kitchen waiting for her. I don't really think I should be the one to tell my sister that Ric is her dad. I'd prefer to leave that to one of her parents, and the one sitting in the kitchen looks as if he's too scared to tell Selena that he's her dad, so that leaves Isobel. She doesn't get to chicken out of talking to her kid-"

"Just give her a minute, Elena," Katherine said impatiently.

"For what?" Elena said, exasperated. "Selena wants her back in the kitchen, and I'm not going to let her mess things up with that sweet little girl. I'm not gonna let Isobel let her down."

"Calm the hell down, please and thanks," Katherine muttered, wishing for silence as she moved away from the males and over to Elena. "She just needs a minute. She's coming back, don't worry. She's not going to be letting Selena down, or chickening out. She needs to just get herself together. She's spent years thinking that Selena was dead and now she's talking with her and the kid is smiling at her. She got a little emotional. You're supposed to be the girl who is all sweet and understanding, so just give the woman a break," Katherine said, keeping her voice low.

"Okay," Elena said, sighing after a moment. "Should I go check on her?" Elena asked, knowing that Katherine knew Isobel better than she did.

Katherine nodded and rolled her eyes. "She probably won't acknowledge it, but she'll be happy that you showed some kind of concern," she said, before going back over to the guys.

Elena went to get Isobel, and Katherine went over to Anton. He was staring at her intently and she didn't like it. She didn't want him staring at her, she was never going to be comfortable with that. And as the seconds went on, whatever part of her had been doing an okay job at dealing with Anton's presence today, started to crumble.

"What did you want to say to me?" Katherine asked.

She wanted this to be quick so that Anton would leave. She was sure that he must have something important to tell her, otherwise he wouldn't have come back. She was working on forgiveness for him, but it was extremely hard to be in the same room as him, and she was pretty sure that he understood that. The only thing Katherine wanted from Anton was distance, and if he could understand that and respect that, things would probably be easier if the time came where she had to see him again.

For some reason or other Damon wasn't sure of today's date and Katherine heard him ask Stefan what it was. When she heard Stefan give Damon an answer, Katherine immediately began to feel as if the walls in the Salvatore mansion were closing in on her. She started to feel claustrophobic, and whatever civil feelings or words she would have been able to muster up for Anton were gone in an instant. Whatever progress had been made between them, quickly became a thing of the past.

Katherine thought that she might have been able to do the whole forgiveness thing over time, but that just all went away in an instant, when she heard today's date.

She'd never forgotten what had happened on this day all those years ago- that's why it was so hard to be around Anton, but everything just hit her so much harder right now and it made her beyond angry. She couldn't really explain the anger that came over her. It probably wouldn't make sense to anyone. They'd probably think she was crazy or just being a raging bitch, but she couldn't help herself.

"In the simplest of terms, even though you may hate me, I wanted to tell you that I'm sorry and thankful, and that I love you. I wanted to tell you that, especially today," Anton said, looking Katherine in the eyes.

Anton and Katherine were on one side of the room, while Stefan and Damon were on the other, but that didn't prevent the Salvatores from hearing every word.

Damon rolled his eyes hearing Anton's words, and Stefan looked as if he had something not so nice to say.

"Are you friggin' serious?" Katherine said, seeing red, shoving Anton towards the door. "Get the hell out of here!"

Katherine was furious. He just didn't listen to her. He was supposed to stay away, and yet he came back specifically to talk about feelings, talk to her about his stupid feelings on the anniversary of the day that he had forced himself on her. And he knew what day it was!

Did Anton forget the things she had said to him over the past weeks? Did he forget her telling him in a moment of pure emotion that it actually hurt her to have him around? Did he forget her telling him that his presence was too much for her, especially with virtually everyone knowing what he had done to her back in Bulgaria?

Did he forget that in the same phone call she had made to him to thank him for the pictures he had drawn of her and Rayna, that she told him she didn't want to see him and for him to stay away?

Did he think that just because she had warned him to stay off Elijah's radar and not get himself killed, and because she said he could go see Selena and Isobel for a couple minutes that she was on good terms with him- that he and his declarations of feelings and regret were welcome?

He was an idiot if that's what he thought. And now more than almost any other time before, she wanted him gone. She didn't want to have to look at his face for another second. Not on this day.

She had thought that maybe he had really started to listen to her. She thought that he had understood that she would try to work on forgiveness if he would keep his distance from her. She must have been wrong.

She remembered her human self so clearly in that moment, felt like she was back in time. She could see Anton above her. She could see herself struggling to get him off of her. She heard herself ask him to stop. She could see how she hadn't been strong enough to push him off of her. She could see herself stand up on shaky legs and gather her clothes from the ground of the barn after he was done and had finally let her go. She saw herself back at her home, scrubbing her body, especially her private areas, wishing that the day's events had never happened.

Anton was standing in the Salvatore living room looking at her as if he expected something from her, like her expression was supposed to soften towards him.

Katherine went to shove him again, but he caught her hand. "Katerina, please-"

"Don't fucking touch me!" Katherine hissed, pulling her hand back and punching him in the face.

This guy did not get to touch her, not even if it was innocent. She really could not deal with him touching her. Some things stay with a person, and Katherine was pretty sure that she was never going to be able to stand any sort of physical contact from Anton.

Stefan sped over, and pulled Katherine off to the side with him.

"You come back here to tell me things that make me uncomfortable as hell to try to make yourself feel better. Your words don't affect me in the way you want. You come back to tell me that you love me, and that you're thankful to me and that you're sorry, after I've told you so many times that I don't like having you around. You think that makes me want to forgive you? It doesn't. I hear your words and I want to puke, especially _today. _I don't get warm fuzzy feelings when you talk, I just get uncomfortable, irritated and pissed off. I don't want your love. I just want you to leave me the hell alone," Katherine said, glaring at Anton. "I want you gone. I mean it Anton. Don't ever show your face here again."

"Get out of this house," Stefan told Anton.

Damon didn't blame Katherine at all for not wanting Anton around, but he was a little confused as to why her reaction was so strong right now when she had managed to be civil with him earlier.

Stefan could actually feel Katherine shaking with rage. Without really even thinking about it, Stefan took Katherine's hand and let his fingers find her wrist, the one with the heart-shaped beauty mark on it. He rubbed her wrist with his thumb, and after about fifteen seconds he could feel her relax slightly and take a deep breath.

When they were together over a century ago, there had been a day when Katherine had been furious for some reason or other. Stefan wanted to make her feel better and help her calm down, but he hadn't been quite sure of how to do that. For whatever reason, he had taken hold of her wrist, the one with the beauty mark, and just started to run his thumb across it. It hadn't taken her too long to relax after that.

"What's going on?" Isobel asked, coming into the room with Elena.

"Never mind, Isobel. Go see your kid and her dad," Katherine said, not taking her gaze off of Anton.

"What's going on?" Isobel said again. "Why are you mad at him? You don't make any sense, Katherine. You're always mad at him, and he's never been anything but great towards you. He loves you and you treat him like shit. He's sweet. Give the guy a break. You should be happy that someone as good as him is so in love with you. You're acting like some stupid teenager throwing a hissy fit."

Isobel's words infuriated Katherine even more, and she flipped out, saying things that she would regret later.

"I may have been around a hell of a lot longer than you, but I think you forget that I died at _ seventeen. _ Even though you only exist because I popped out a kid who kept this bloodline going, aside from little Selena, human years lived, along with Elena, I'm the youngest person in this house right now! Elena's allowed to throw a damn fit every now and then. It's my turn today. I've been looking out for and protecting you and your daughter for years. I've seen and put up with more shit than anyone here, so I think I'm allowed to throw a damn hissy fit every once in awhile. And since you think Anton is so awesome, you can go to him for everything from now on.

"I'm done with you and whatever the hell this weird relationship we have is. There's not gonna be anymore you and me, Isobel. You're gonna have to stop being a little chicken-shit and actually interact and make an effort at building a relationship with Elena now, because I'm not gonna be around for you to take comfort from.

"No more emotional cowardice from you. You don't get to use me and the fact that your daughter looks exactly like me to make you feel better. You don't get to hang around and joke with me to try to satisfy or fill some void in your life that's caused by the fact that you don't really know how to be around Elena. You want an emotional relationship- you can get it from your kid, and good old Anton here.

"When you need someone to talk to, you can go to Anton. When you need to cry over whatever friggin' drama is going on between you and your daughters' daddies, you can go to Saint Anton. I'm done with you, Isobel. I don't want to see Anton. I've put up with enough from him. And I don't wanna see you anymore, either!" Katherine yelled, forgetting that Selena was just in the kitchen.

Isobel looked extremely shocked and pretty hurt.

About three seconds later, Katherine's anger vanished. Selena came into the living room, followed by Alaric at hearing the yelling.

"She's my mom. Does that mean you don't want to see _me_ anymore, either?" Selena said, coming over to Katherine, looking up at her with tears streaming down her cheeks.

Katherine's heart broke in that moment, seeing the little's girl's face, and for more than one reason.

"No it doesn't," Katherine said immediately.

"You promise?" Selena asked.

Katherine nodded. "You're gonna come with me, okay cutie?" Katherine said, picking Selena up.

"Okay," the little girl said, nodding against Katherine's shoulder.

Katherine climbed the stairs with Selena, ignoring Isobel and Alaric's words.

"Why the hell did you have to come back here?" Elena asked, snapping at Anton. "How many times do you have to be told by Katherine and the rest of us that your presence isn't welcome or wanted? She gives you an inch and you want to take a mile. She never loved you. She's never _going_ to love you. The only thing you had a chance at getting was her forgiveness, but you're screwing that up royally because you can't listen to her when she tells you to stay away!"

Stefan went to Elena, seeing how mad she was at Anton. He held her hand, and Elena acknowledged it by squeezing his hand back.

"Just because she called you to make sure that Isobel didn't do something stupid, doesn't mean every other thing she's said to you means nothing. She called you because she was looking out for Isobel, not because she wants you around. She doesn't need you. She doesn't want you. Just leave her alone," Elena said.

"What the hell does Katherine have against him? What did he do to make her hate having him around so much?" Isobel said to Elena, trying to keep her voice down.

"That's not your business, and it doesn't even matter," Elena said to Isobel.

Elena did not like Anton one bit. He was only ever nice to her, but she could barely tolerate seeing him. She knew what he did to Katherine and she couldn't stand him for it.

Anton rubbed his head. "I've really enjoyed spending time with you and talking to you, Isobel. You shouldn't stick up for me, though. I'm sure you would very likely end up feeling the same way about me that your daughter does if you knew the whole story-"

Elena was worried that Anton might actually tell Isobel what had really happened between him and Katherine in the past, and she knew that Katherine absolutely did not want Isobel knowing about it, so she cut Anton off and went to open the door.

"Time to go," Elena said, motioning him out the door.

Anton just nodded and headed for the door. "I thought that she would want to hear what I had to say. I never intended to make her angry."

"You may not have intended to, but you sure as hell ended up pissing her off," Damon said, shutting the door behind Anton.

Stefan saw Isobel head towards the stairs, but he got there first and blocked her path.

"Sit down Isobel," Elena said, sighing, taking a seat on the stairs.

"I need to go talk to Katherine," Isobel said, gritting her teeth.

"Give her some space. She'll talk to you when she's ready" Stefan said, sitting down next to Elena.

"I don't think you're in any more danger of getting your ass kicked, Ric, so I'm gonna get the hell out of here," Damon said. He saw Stefan and Elena sitting next to each other and tried to ignore the pang of jealousy that rose inside of him.

"If anyone ends up talking to the original doppelganger, tell her to call me if she needs something," Damon said, heading out the door.

Isobel went to sit down on the couch and Alaric did the same.

Elena leaned her head against Stefan's shoulder and let herself close her eyes for a moment.

o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o

"What happened, Katherine? Why did you get mad? Why were you screaming at Isobel? How come you don't want to see her anymore? Did she hurt your feelings and make you sad? Is that why you got mad? I don't want you to be mad or sad. I want you to be happy and smile. I want everyone to be happy, but I want you to be even more happy because you're my favourite- you and Elena."

Despite how she was feeling, Katherine let out a laugh when she heard all of Selena's consecutive questions, and smiled when Selena said that she was her favourite.

Selena was sitting next to Katherine on her bed, looking at her with wide and curious eyes.

Katherine sighed, remembering Selena's question from when they were downstairs. She had asked her if she didn't want to see her anymore. The little girl's words had hit her hard, not just because she would never want the child to think that, but also because she had heard those words from her own daughter.

Before she had compelled her daughter to forget her, she tried to explain that she would have to leave. Her daughter looked broken-hearted and asked her if Katherine had to leave because she didn't want to see her anymore.

"I'm really sorry that you had to hear me yelling downstairs. I was mad, and sometimes when people get mad they say things that aren't so nice. They can say things that they don't really mean. I don't want you to worry about me being sad or mad, okay? I'll be just fine, cutie. But it's nice to know that you're such a sweet girl to care about how I'm feeling," Katherine said, smiling at Selena.

"You're not gonna stay mad at my mom for a long time, right?" Selena asked.

"No," Katherine said, shaking her head. She was furious with Anton and then clueless Isobel had to get involved. In the heat of the moment, Katherine lashed out at Isobel. She didn't really mean a lot of what she said to Isobel, but she still didn't want to talk to Isobel right now, because there was a part of her that was angry.

"Good," Selena said.

"So now that you and I have talked a little bit, I think you should probably go back downstairs with your mom and Alaric because they've got a lot of things to talk to you about. I think they're waiting for you."

Selena held out her little arms. "Can I have a hug before I can go back down?"

"You most definitely can have a hug before you go," Katherine said, pulling Selena to her.

"I like your hugs," Selena said, giggling.

"I like your hugs, too," Katherine said, smiling.

Selena reminded Katherine of her daughter, Rayna, in a lot of ways.

"Sorry to interrupt you two, but Isobel and Alaric really want to see to you, Selena," Elena said, appearing at Katherine's door.

"That's okay," Selena said. "Katherine said I should go see them anyway because we still have lots to talk about."

"Katherine's right," Elena said, walking over to help Selena off of the bed.

"Are you coming with me, Elena?"

"I'm gonna let you three talk on your own, but don't worry, I'll be around," Elena told her little sister.

"Are you going to hang out with Katherine?" Selena asked.

"Yeah, actually, I am for a little bit," Elena answered, and Katherine raised an eyebrow.

"Okay, have fun," Selena said, waving at Katherine and Elena.

"Be careful on the stairs," Katherine said.

Elena watched Selena climb down the stairs, as Katherine switched from sitting on her bed to lying on it.

When Elena came to sit on the bed Katherine asked, "So why exactly are we going to be hanging out? I'm not exactly the cheeriest person on the planet right now."

"Stefan got a phone call. I think it's Lexi's boyfriend. I figured that I should probably give him some privacy. That, and I was wondering if you're okay," Elena said awkwardly. "You kinda freaked out down there."

"I'm fine," Katherine said quickly.

"That's bullshit. What exactly happened that got you so pissed at Anton that Isobel annoyed you enough to say that stuff to her? What did he do? And what's today?" Elena asked.

"Go bug your on-again boyfriend. He's probably done with his phone call," Katherine replied.

"Don't get me wrong. I have no problem yelling at Anton and kicking him out of the house, but something really pissed you off and I want to know what it is."

"You wanna know what pissed me off? Sure, I'll tell you," Katherine said, rolling her eyes.

Elena looked at her, waiting for the answer.

"You. You're what pissed me off," Katherine said with a grin that didn't reach her eyes.

"Fine. Don't tell me. Whatever," Elena mumbled.

"How did it go with Isobel and Selena?" Katherine asked, changing the subject.

"I'm not feeling particularly chatty," Elena said, stubbornly.

"Okay. Get the hell out of my room, then," Katherine said.

Elena gave Katherine a dirty look, but finally started to speak.

"It took quite awhile, and a whole lot of _me _doing the talking, but Isobel finally did manage to tell Selena that she was her mom. We didn't really get into much more than that, though," Elena said to Katherine, getting off of the bed, deciding to look around the room a bit.

"Why aren't you down there with them right now?" Katherine asked, eyeing Elena.

"I get it now. I really do. I know Isobel loves me and Selena, but you were right when you were yelling at her- emotionally, she's a coward. And Alaric isn't that much better. It looked like he was scared to say more than five words to Selena. He was basically expecting me to carry on the conversation. They're her parents. They made her. They can tell her their story. That's their job, not mine."

"You're right. That is their job. But what does that mean for you and Selena? Are you gonna keep her at a distance or are you actually going to be a sister to her and give the kid affection?" Katherine asked.

"Of course I'm going to be her sister. Of course I'm going to show her affection. I'm just letting her parents do the explaining that they have to," Elena said, looking at Katherine as if she was an idiot for asking her that.

"Okay," Katherine said, nodding.

"What's this?" Elena asked nosily, picking up a rather large envelope, beginning to open it.

"Put that down," Katherine said, practically growling, speeding over to Elena. "Give it to me."

"Holy crap, calm down," Elena said. "I'm not actually trying to piss you off, here."

"Give me the envelope," Katherine said, trying to remain calm.

Elena wondered why Katherine wasn't just ripping the envelope from her hands, and figured that there must be something pretty important in there if she wasn't willing to even take the chance of possibly damaging the contents.

Elena wasn't proud of what she did next, but she really wanted to know what had happened to make Katherine flip out on Anton.

"I'll give you the envelope if you tell me why Anton pissed you off so badly today," Elena said.

"You're a little bitch, did you know that?" Katherine said, mostly pissed off, but also undeniably slightly amused and possibly the tiniest bit proud that her doppelganger knew how to turn the situation to her advantage, to get what she wanted.

Elena saw anger in Katherine's eyes, and maybe she was crazy but she thought that maybe she could see a tiny bit of respect there too.

"You're very lucky that we happen to be related, Elena," Katherine said, sounding dangerous. "If we weren't, you'd be dead right now for pulling a stunt like that. I'll tell you what you want to know, but I feel like I should just give you this warning now. Part of the reason I tolerate you is because we're related, but probably the most specific reason used to be because you were my last living descendant. If my bloodline was going to continue that meant that you had to be alive and go on to have babies. You're not my last living descendant anymore, that would be your little sister. If I happen to lose my temper one day..."

Elena took a deep breath. She knew the point Katherine was trying to make. She didn't need Elena to continue her blood-line. She was trying to scare Elena, making her think that one day she might not care that they were related since she didn't need Elena anymore, that one day she might just kill her.

Elena couldn't lie and say that Katherine hadn't scared her because she actually just did. Katherine was good at making threats and being frightening when she wanted to be. If Elena hadn't learned a bit more about Katherine recently, she might be peeing in her pants, thinking she just received a legitimate death threat, but Elena knew better. Katherine might not like her, but she was all about protecting her bloodline- all of it, not just select members of it.

"Don't be dramatic. Just tell me what happened. I'm curious," Elena said, trying, unsuccessfully, she was quite sure, to sound tough.

She wasn't going to hurt her, but she just had to do this. She wanted to see Elena's reaction. There was an amusing aspect to Elena being so pushy and a little bit underhanded, but the little doppelganger wasn't the Queen Bee. Katherine was just going to remind her of that.

Katherine shot her hand out and wrapped it around Elena's neck. She didn't squeeze or anything, but Elena got the point. Elena's eyes went wide and Katherine removed her hand with a little smirk.

Katherine opened one of her dresser drawers and pulled out a tank top and pants.

"I don't suppose you have any intention of leaving the room and letting me tell you what you want to hear from the other side of the door?" Katherine said.

"No," Elena said.

"Fine, whatever," Katherine said, taking off Damon's robe and throwing it onto her bed.

"Whoa, okay. I didn't ask for a strip show, Katherine," Elena said, turning around. "I don't need to see you naked."

"Well, you said you weren't leaving the room. I had to change out of the robe. What did you want me to do?" Katherine said, laughing. "No need to be shy, honey. I don't have any different parts than you do. According to Stefan, actually, we've got the exact same shape. He says the only difference is the different birth marks we have."

While a part of Katherine admired Elena's tougher attitude, she wasn't going to let her doppelganger get too confident in dealing with her. Throwing Stefan's name in in this situation worked perfectly.

Elena didn't look happy at all.

"Anyway," Katherine said, pulling on the pants. "I thought the guy had got it through his thick skull that I needed him to stay away. I could be civil if he could respect that. I flipped out on Anton because I thought he had come back to say something important, but he didn't. Because I thought he finally understood, I was sure he wouldn't come by unless he had some kind of news or something, but that wasn't the case."

Katherine put on the tank top as she continued. "The idiot tells me that he came back to tell me that even though I might hate him, he wants me to know that he's thankful to me, and sorry and in love with me. I got pissed and shoved him. I was going to shove him again, but he caught my hand and I flipped out on him for touching me. The end. You can go bug your boyfriend now."

"It was something else. It wasn't just that. There's something specific about today that pissed you off," Elena said, giving the envelope back to Katherine.

"Just leave it alone, Elena. It doesn't concern you, so don't worry about it. I really just want to relax right now," Katherine said, putting the envelope with the drawings of her daughter into the drawer of the nightstand next to her bed, and lying down.

She had let Stefan see a couple of the drawings, but they weren't things that Katherine wanted to share with people. There were so many emotions connected to the drawings, and Katherine wasn't going to go there.

"You and I don't really like each other. That's pretty much because of Stefan-"

"And we can't ignore the fact that you're annoying as hell-" Katherine said, before Elena could continue, grinning a little.

"We also can't ignore the fact that you're a raging bitch," Elena said, a small grin forming on her face also.

Katherine gave Elena the middle finger, but was laughing a little bit.

"Let me say what I'm trying to say," Elena said, more seriously now. "We don't like each other much, and are probably going to rub anything that has to do with Stefan in each other's faces, but I don't actually have any desire to see you sad or mad or messed up over other stuff. And this Anton stuff makes me furious. I really hate seeing him near you because I know that you don't want him around, and I know what happened to you. It's weird, but-"

"You're a little protective of me where Anton is concerned," Katherine said, finishing Elena's sentence.

"I think so," Elena said awkwardly.

"It's not that weird," Katherine said, shrugging her shoulders. "I don't like you much, but I came back here to keep you safe… Anyway like I said, everything's fine, so you can go. Let me have some peace and quiet."

"Answer a few things for me, would you?"

"Hurry up and ask your damn questions," Katherine said, rolling her eyes.

If anyone was watching Elena and Katherine interact, they would probably be very amused and confused. They went from bitchy to civil and vice versa all in the span of one conversation.

"When's your birthday? You said aside from Selena, you and me were the youngest."

"My birthday is the same as yours. And here's a fun fact for you, the girl we're the doppelgangers of- her birthday is on the same day, too."

"Weird," Elena said.

"Yep," Katherine agreed.

"Question 2- are you planning on staying mad at Isobel?"

"I'm annoyed, but that flip-out wasn't really about her. I don't want to talk to her right now, but it'll be fine. Don't worry about it," Katherine said.

"Can you give me an honest answer to a couple things? It doesn't have anything to do with Anton or Stefan. I won't bring it up again after this," Elena said carefully.

"Ask the questions. _Maybe _ I'll answer," Katherine said, pretending to yawn.

"Even though you said all that stuff to Isobel about her spending time with you just so she could feel close to me, you know that she actually loves you, right?" Elena said awkwardly. "And do you ever think that maybe you also get something else out of keeping Isobel's company besides having someone to talk to and look out for?

Katherine didn't answer Elena's first question, but she did want to know more about what Elena meant by the second one.

"What are you trying to say, Elena?" Katherine asked, using her bored voice, even though Elena's question had her curious.

"You look out for Isobel and all that, and maybe you listen to her rant and rave also. But isn't there a part of you that likes that Isobel tries to look out for you, too- that she's protective of you in her own way? You don't really need protection from very much, but isn't there a part of you that craves someone wanting to protect you? You were someone's daughter once.

"I saw your face downstairs when Isobel saw you full of blood, Katherine. You asked her if she was channeling your mother. She was worried about you and wanted to check you out to make sure you were okay. You were amused. You had a smile on your face," Elena said.

When Katherine let herself think about her mother, she always missed her. One of the things she missed most, something she would not tell anyone, was the simple act of her mother running her hands through her hair. It was always something that had made Katherine feel better.

There had been times throughout her many years of existence that Katherine craved being able to feel her mother's hands in her hair again.

A year earlier Isobel had come by the place she was staying at, and Katherine had been tired and pissed off about something. All she had wanted to do was lie down on the couch and fall asleep. Isobel had been sitting on the couch and wouldn't get up.

"_Move or else you're gonna be stuck sitting there for at least a couple hours."_

_Isobel looked amused at how annoyed Katherine appeared. "I think I'm good here."_

"_Fine," Katherine said, grabbing the pillow from the other end of the couch. "I'm serious though, I'm not moving."_

"_Whatever," Isobel said._

_Katherine threw the pillow on Isobel's lap, stretched out on the couch, and put her head on the pillow._

"_Have fun being stuck here. Goodnight," Katherine muttered, closing her eyes._

"_What are you so pissed off about?" Isobel asked. "Bad-ass had a bad day?"_

"_No talking. Seriously, I just want to sleep," Katherine said, keeping her eyes closed._

"_Okay," Isobel said, laughing a little, but not in a mean way._

_A good fifteen minutes passed and Katherine was still awake, but acted like she was sleeping because she wasn't in the mood to chat with Isobel. Katherine was pretty sure that Isobel thought she was sleeping but wasn't so certain a minute or two later. Katherine felt Isobel run her hand through her hair and she almost started to cry._

_This is what her mother used to do. Sometimes it was for no reason, but other times it was meant to make her feel better or calm her down. Whatever the situation had been, her mother doing that always made Katherine feel good._

_Isobel doing that took her back to another time._

_Showing affection wasn't Katherine's style, but she gave Isobel's other hand a quick squeeze._

"_You know if you ever need help with something, you can always come to me, Katherine. I've got your back."_

_Katherine didn't acknowledge the words, she just pretended to still be asleep. She didn't respond to the words, but she had heard them and the sincerity behind them, and it meant something to her, but she'd never admit it._

"_You look out for me and my kid. If there's something you need there's pretty much nothing I wouldn't do for you. And I think that's enough emotional blabber for the next decade. Conversation is over, just keep it in mind," Isobel told her, knowing that she was awake._

Katherine didn't need or want Isobel to try to protect her, but Katherine couldn't lie to herself and say that the idea that Isobel wanted to look out for her made her mad. When Katherine missed her mother, she couldn't say that Isobel wanting to make sure everything was okay for her was something completely unwanted. Sometimes it was a nice feeling. Elena wasn't entirely crazy in what she had said, but there was no way Katherine was going to tell her that.

"You've got quite the imagination, Elena. I have no clue what you're talking about… Anyway, before you finally get out of my room, I need something from you."

Elena rolled her eyes in annoyance. Typical Katherine. Ignore people, lie and make demands. "Oh and what would that be, your highness?"

Katherine smirked, but quickly got serious again. "I need you to _not _start giving Stefan your blood again now that you're getting back together."

"What I do with Stefan is none of your business," Elena said quickly.

"Relax, little girl," Katherine snapped. "This isn't about you and Stefan, or me and Stefan. This is strictly about Stefan. I'm serious. Don't offer him your blood."

"Why?" Elena asked, trying to decide if Katherine was trying to play some sort of game.

"Because he's doing okay without your blood. He's actually handling things pretty well with human blood that is not yours right now. There was a certain ease to things when he was having your blood. He loves you. He would never do anything to hurt you. With you, he would have to have a certain level of control over his desire for blood. It was a smart move on your part to offer your blood because like I just said, Stefan would make sure he would never go crazy with bloodlust on you-"

"I don't get it, Katherine," Elena said impatiently.

"The control over the bloodlust was a good thing, I'm not saying it's not. But what's happening now with him is better," Katherine said, trying not to snap at Elena again.

"Why is it better? Because it's something he's doing without me?" Elena asked.

"Yes," Katherine said.

Elena didn't look like she liked Katherine's answer very much.

"Just keep your mouth shut, and let me finish before you start blabbing. You were doing well with Stefan, but it's kind of a dangerous thing if his control over his blood intake is tied to one person."

"I'm still confused. If he's able to control himself with my blood, the stuff that probably tastes the best to him because he loves me, the stuff that he would want most, that's a good thing. If he can control himself where the stuff he wants most is concerned, everyone else is safe. So if Stefan were to ever start actually drinking blood from anyone else, blood that wasn't as tempting as mine, it would be easy for him to control himself," Elena said. "There's really no bad side to me giving Stefan my blood."

"What you said is pretty much true. And like I've already said, what you did was a good thing, especially at the time you did it, but can you really not see what I'm trying to tell you here?"

"Honestly, no," Elena told her.

"You had sex with Stefan's brother in Stefan's bed. I think you remember how that made Stefan feel, right?" Katherine said.

"Oh yay, here we go," Elena muttered sarcastically.

"I'm not even trying to be a bitch right now, so don't give me a reason to put a little effort into this conversation and make you feel guilty as hell and make you cry," Katherine warned.

"Make your point, Katherine."

"What happened with you and Damon messed Stefan up. His emotions were all over the place. I've been here with him over these past weeks. I've seen him deal with what happened in varying degrees of anger and sadness. His feelings for you went from one extreme end of the spectrum to the other. Sometimes he couldn't bear to hear your name… Do you understand where I'm trying to go with this?" Katherine asked, hoping her doppelganger's answer would be yes. She just wanted some peace and quiet.

Elena nodded because she finally did get what Katherine was trying to say. Stefan learned to control his want of blood because of her. If Stefan would have had other human blood besides her own while they were together, he would have been fine. The control he had then was in a way linked to her. But when she slept with Damon and caused that rift between Stefan and herself, he wasn't crazy in love and devoted to her. He had been hurt and angry, and it wasn't unrealistic to think that the control he had over his bloodlust while with her would be in danger when a part of him couldn't stand to see her.

"I get your point, but we're back together now," Elena told her.

"I know," Katherine said, not even bothering to hide her dislike of the fact. "But that doesn't mean that you two will always be together. That doesn't mean that you're not gonna mess everything up again. That doesn't mean that there's not going to eventually be someone else in the picture,"

Elena remained quiet. There was a reminder in Katherine's words that she was still competition where Stefan was concerned, even though she was making a valid point.

"There's intimacy in giving someone your blood. I get that, Elena. I know that it's a special sort of bond… I'm not saying to never give him your blood again, I'm saying not to offer it to him. He won't ask you for it. Let more time pass. Give him more time with the blood bags, and let him develop control over his blood urges on his own."

"He's really doing okay with the blood bags?" Elena asked. "Has he talked to you?"

"He's doing okay on his own. He knows what he can handle. He's been having the human blood from the bags, but he still has the animal blood too. He's found a good balance for himself. When he feels like he's ready he'll have a little bit more blood than he usually has. And if the time ever comes when he experiments with too much blood in a short amount of time, which I don't think will happen, I'll make sure to keep him under control. I'm proud of him. You should be, too... Now _please _get the hell out of here," Katherine said, throwing Damon's robe at Elena. "And throw that into Damon's room if you don't mind. Save me the trouble, please and thanks."

Elena mumbled something. Katherine was sure it wasn't something nice. "Bye, Elena," Katherine said, grinning.

o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o

"Seriously guys, you can go. I'm fine," Bonnie said, laughing a little. "I'm not gonna break down crying or anything, I swear."

"I don't want to leave you alone. We may have just been dealing with the whole new development of Elena having a new sibling, but I haven't forgotten what happened before we rushed off to the Salvatores'. I remember the disastrous visit from your mom. I don't want you to be alone," Caroline told her.

"You are so sweet, and I'm grateful that you're looking out for me, Care, but honestly, I'm fine. Tyler, tell her," Bonnie said, eyeing her werewolf friend.

"I'm kinda with Caroline on this Bonnie. You shouldn't be alone. You should be with friends right now. Your day has been pretty eventful, and not in the greatest way. Your mom showing up and all…"

"You are also very sweet, Wolfy Lockwood," Bonnie said, grinning a little. "But you both just need to get the hell out of here and go do something. I promise that I'm not going to sit around being miserable over the fact that my mom totally sucks and plans on selling my house. I'm going to get a little bit of sleep, actually."

Caroline eyed her friend, trying to decide if Bonnie was telling the truth.

Bonnie laughed, seeing Caroline trying to decide if she should believe her or not.

Bonnie pulled the blonde into a hug. "I love you very much, but it's time for you to get the hell out of my house so I can sleep."

"Fine, fine," Caroline said. "Call me if you need me later, okay?"

"I'll call you if I need you, Care. Thank you," Bonnie said.

"I could talk to my mom, see if there's any way to prevent your mom from selling this house, if you want," Tyler said to Bonnie as he and Caroline walked to the door.

"Thanks for the offer. I might take you up on it at some point, but don't worry about it for now," Bonnie said.

"If I end up talking to Elena before you wake up, do you want me to tell her anything for you?" Caroline asked.

"Just tell her that I hope everything is going well with Ric, Isobel and Selena. And tell her that I'm going to sleep so she doesn't need to worry about coming to see me. You and I both know that she'll want to come check up on me, but just tell her that I'm okay. Tell her to spend her time with either Stefan or Selena. She just got back together with Stefan, I want her to enjoy it."

"Okay," Caroline said. "Are you sure you don't need me for anything?"

"There is actually something you could do for me," Bonnie said, grinning a little.

"Anything," Caroline told her.

"This involves you too, Tyler," Bonnie said.

"Sure," Tyler nodded.

"I want you both to go see that new Justin Morris movie for me. I keep seeing the previews and I'm on the fence about going to see it. The two of you will tell me if it's good or not."

Caroline rolled her eyes.

"I'm serious," Bonnie said. "I expect a full movie review from the both of you. Two opinions are always better than one."

"I didn't bring my bank card, Bonnie."

"The movie is on me. Don't worry about it," Tyler said.

"Tyler, to my recollection, you haven't been to the movies with Caroline, so I'm just gonna quickly fill you in on some things you should know," Bonnie said, the grin still on her face.

"What do I need to know?" Tyler asked, looking amused.

"Number 1: she might talk to you during the movie, but _you're_ not allowed to talk to her unless she's talking to you. She'll probably give you a dirty look and mutter under her breath about how she can't concentrate on the movie with your constant chatter. Number 2: if you're getting any kind of snacks, do not chew loudly because she might smack you. Number 3: If at some point you notice that Caroline is trying to hide behind you, it's just because there's one specific guy who works there who creeps her out and annoys the hell out of her who has an epically huge crush on her- and she'd rather avoid him.

"Number 4: She wants her popcorn drowned in butter. She will be sweet and agreeable if you buy the popcorn and don't ask for extra butter, but you'll regret it as the person sitting next to her in the theatre because you'll see her looking completely unsatisfied with every bite of popcorn she takes," Bonnie said, informing Tyler.

"Anything else I need to know?" Tyler asked, laughing.

"Yeah, one more thing. If she's really into the movie, even if you don't do anything to bug her, there's a good chance she's gonna smack you anyway, either because she can't believe that something just happened or because she's totally thrilled. Other than that, I think you're all prepared now, Lockwood."

"Thanks for the info," Tyler said.

"She's over-exaggerating. I'm not that bad at the movies," Caroline insisted.

"Tyler, next time you see Elena, ask her if everything I said is true. She'll tell you the exact same thing as me. I guarantee it. Now, both of you, get out of here. Have fun," Bonnie said, shutting the door.

Bonnie locked her door and did a little happy dance in spite of her own problems with her mother. Bonnie hadn't lied to her friends about taking a nap. She really was going to go sleep for a bit. Bonnie was grateful that they wanted to keep her company, but she really didn't need it when she wouldn't even be awake.

She lied about wanting to see the movie. She had no desire to see it at all, but she wanted her friends to go out and do something, and she wanted them to do it together.

She wanted them together. Yeah, Bonnie was on Team Tyler/Caroline.

The deaths of their loved ones was something that was always on the minds of Elena, Caroline and Bonnie, and God knows that Bonnie adored Matt and missed her friend a lot, but she wasn't blind where the werewolf and blonde vampire were concerned.

There was something between Tyler and Caroline, but neither of them had talked about any sort of feelings that might be there, not since the day that Bonnie released Katherine from the tomb.

She knew that feelings of guilt were involved, and that was at least one of the reasons that there hadn't been any sort of talks that weren't strictly friendly.

Bonnie didn't want the two to hook up right away or anything, it was still too soon in Bonnie's eyes, especially after Matt.

She couldn't help but smile when she thought of Matt. He'd been her friend almost as long as Elena and Caroline had. Bonnie used to think, and still did, that Matt was the sweetest guy around.

Caroline had loved him, and Bonnie thought they had been the most adorable thing she'd ever seen when they were together.

But both Bonnie and Elena knew that their best friend had unresolved feelings for Tyler from when he and Caroline had first started to bond. Those feelings came back to the surface when Tyler came back to town.

Bonnie had been furious with Tyler when the whole incident happened with Jules and her werewolf crew taking Caroline, but those bad feelings were gone now. She knew how sorry Tyler was. Presently, she knew that Tyler would do pretty much anything to make sure that nothing bad would ever happen to Caroline, and that's what mattered to Bonnie.

She hoped that one day Tyler and Caroline would give themselves a chance to explore the feelings that they tried to forget and ignore.

She just wanted Caroline to be happy, exactly the same as she wanted Elena to be happy.

Bonnie walked up the stairs to her room and changed into something more comfy, shaking thoughts of everyone else out of her head for a little bit.

Bonnie didn't think that Damon would be dropping by for at least another couple hours, so she plopped down onto her bed, closed her eyes, and let herself get a bit of sleep.

o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o

Elena was sitting on the couch, in the middle of texting Caroline when her phone rang.

She looked down at her phone and didn't recognize the number.

"Hello," she answered.

"Hey Elena, it's Richard."

"Hi Rich, what's up?" Elena asked as Stefan came back into the living room.

She was wondering why this guy from her class was calling her.

"There's a dance at school that's not very far off, I was just wondering if you'd be interested in going with me, you know since you and Stefan aren't together anymore."

"Oh," Elena said, a little awkwardly. "It's sweet of you to ask, but I've got to say no. Sorry. Stefan and I are back on again."

"Oh, okay. This was awkward then. See you around, Elena," Richard said, quickly hanging up.

"What was that about?" Stefan asked, taking a seat next to Elena.

"A guy from school asked me to the dance. I turned him down."

"I forgot that there was a dance coming up," Stefan said.

"So did I, for awhile," Elena said, hoping that Stefan would ask her to go to the dance.

Stefan saw the look in Elena's eye, and he knew that she wanted him to ask her to go. She was biting her lip and she probably didn't even know it. She was nervous and she looked adorable.

"Since you and me are doing this whole 'try again' thing, I was thinking that we should go to the dance," Stefan said, grinning a little. "What do you think?"

A look of extreme relief and happiness crossed Elena's face. "I think you and I are _so _going to the dance," she said, smiling.

"It's not another decade dance, right?" Stefan asked.

"Nope. No theme at all."

"Good," Stefan said, chuckling.

"Oh come on, Stefan. The decade dances are awesome," Elena said, elbowing them gently.

Stefan just shook his head which made Elena laugh.

"How's Lexi's boyfriend doing?" Elena asked, remembering Stefan's earlier phone call.

"He misses her," Stefan said, sighing. "I know that feeling very well. It would have been Lexi's birthday in a little under two weeks. Her boyfriend has some things that he says Lexi would want me to have. He's gonna be in town around the time of her birthday, he just wanted to let me know he was going to be around so he could bring me a box of stuff."

Stefan's expression was pained, and Elena didn't want to push him to talk any more about Lexi. It was clearly painful for him, and she didn't want to cause him any pain.

"One day, I'll tell you more about Lexi. I know I haven't told you too much, but one day I'll tell you more," Stefan said, seeing that Elena looked as if she regretted bringing up the phone conversation.

Elena nodded.

"So, it's been awhile. What's new? Have I missed any new major events in your life? How are things with your dad?" Stefan asked.

"The doctors haven't said that he's going to get better, but we haven't heard anything saying that things are worsening. John swears that he's feeling fine, so I'm finding a little bit of comfort in the fact that he's not in pain or anything. I'm really hoping that the doctors are gonna call him one day and just tell him that everything is miraculously better. I tell myself that even though he's sick, there's a chance that I can still have him around for a long time… I had so much anger towards him for awhile, but all I want to do now is spend as much good time with him as I possibly can."

"Have you been spending a good amount of time with him?" Stefan asked.

Elena nodded and smiled. "I'm seeing bits of him that I only remember seeing when I was a kid, and it's great. Back when I was still a kid, and all I knew him as was my uncle, I loved him so much. He was practically my favourite person back then, and I'm starting to remember why."

"I'm glad," Stefan told her, meaning it.

"Elena."

Selena came out of the kitchen and walked over to Stefan and Elena.

"Hey Selena. What's up?" Elena asked.

"Can you come stay in the kitchen with us? I like it when you're with me," Selena said.

Elena had planned on letting Ric and Isobel do all of the talking, but she couldn't deny her little sister her company when she was specifically asking for it.

"Sure," Elena said. "I'll come in the kitchen. And I like it when you're with me, too. Do you think you can give me just a minute? I'll meet you back in the kitchen, okay?"

Selena nodded and went back into the kitchen with her parents.

"She's formed a quick attachment to you," Stefan said. "That's really good. I'm glad that she seems to be handling things well."

"Isn't she like the cutest thing you've ever seen?" Elena said.

"You're a goner," Stefan said, laughing. "You'd do anything for her. I can already see that."

"She's a sweetie. I don't think she'll take advantage of me being a sucker for her too badly," Elena said, grinning.

"Have fun," Stefan said as Elena walked into the kitchen.

Stefan went down to the basement and grabbed a few blood bags, and then headed upstairs to see if Katherine wanted any company.

o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o

"Wake up, Judgey. I'm bored," Damon said, standing next to Bonnie's bed. "Wake up. Wake up. Wake up."

He heard Bonnie groan.

"Come on Bon-Bon. Wake up. Nap time's over. I'm bored."

"Stop talking, Salvatore," Bonnie said, yawning. "Wait, how the hell did you get in here? I locked the door."

"Yes, you did lock your door. But your window was open a bit," Damon said, grinning.

Bonnie grumbled.

"What time is it?" Bonnie said, sitting up and rubbing her eyes.

"It's 8:30. Get up and let's get out of here. Chop-chop. I've been waiting for you to wake up."

"Did something happen with Elena?" Bonnie asked.

"Not really," Damon said. "It just sucks seeing her and Stefan together."

"So nothing happened?"

"Nothing happened. I saw them. I left. I did some flirting and non-psychotic feeding. And then I moped around and got the famous feeling like I might do something stupid, so then I came to bug you. You were out like a light, though. So I occupied my time by being nosy and snooping around your house and sharpening some stakes," Damon told her.

"How long have you been in my house, creeper?" Bonnie asked, getting out of her bed.

"Since about 6 pm," Damon said, shrugging. "Hurry up, Bennett. I want to get out of here for a bit. And yes, I will get you back here in plenty of time so you can still do your psychotic near death magic routine."

"Hold your horses, Vampy, let me change into something that looks less like pyjamas than what I'm wearing and splash some water on my face or something," Bonnie said, sounding amused, heading into the washroom.

"You are aware that people go out in the clothes you're wearing all the time, right? Jogging pants are actually allowed to be worn outside."

"Yeah, but I don't really like wearing those outside my house all that much. These are my relaxing clothes."

"The longer you take, the more dresser drawers I'll peek into," Damon said, smirking. "I'm sure I'll be finding the bra and panties one very soon."

"You're such a pervert," Bonnie said, coming out of the bathroom and grabbing a jacket. "Fine, let's go then."

Damon laughed all the way down the stairs.

"I've only given you one tiny aneurism today, Damon, don't tempt me into giving you another," Bonnie warned.

"Those aren't the most pleasant things to receive," Damon said and Bonnie laughed.

"Then I suggest you do your best to avoid annoying me," Bonnie told him. "I know it'll be hard, because God knows you're just naturally annoying, but I believe in you Damon. You can do it."

Damon rolled his eyes. "Thanks for the words of encouragement, Bennett. You're so kind," he said sarcastically.

"You're very welcome," Bonnie said, responding with a grin.


	77. Chapter 77

**o-0-o-0-o-0-o My life, oh my life. It's just constantly been one thing after another. I'm so sorry for how long it has been taking for the updates, but I cannot help it. Life just keeps throwing stuff at me. There's been more sad things that have happened and once again, I'm just really sorry for how spread apart the updates have been. Thanks to the Guest Reviewers, David Fishwick, iwantbirthdaycake, West of the Boulevard, CarCar234, Raya, Ygritte the Huntress, TheInstantClassic, laugh4life, angelus1one1, omgyourmom, ExecutionerKain and mimi for all the reviews. I REALLY appreciate it. You all totally rock. I'm hoping that everything is smooth sailing from here on out o-0-o-0-o-0-o**

There was a knock on the door to Katherine's room. She groaned. "Elena, go back downstairs. I'm sure Stefan is practically done talking to Lexi's guy. Go bug him. Spare me another weird conversation with you. I just want to relax," Katherine said, putting her pillow over her head, attempting to block out what she expected to be Elena's response.

Katherine just wanted some peace and quiet.

She felt someone sit down on her bed. She opened her eyes and saw Stefan.

"You're definitely not Elena," Katherine said, sitting up, grinning a little.

Yes, she wanted peace and quiet, but looking at Stefan was always a good thing.

"No, I'm not Elena. I'm just a guy with a couple blood-bags," Stefan said, tossing one to Katherine.

"Thanks," she said.

"Just came to see if you wanted any company, but I can go if you want," Stefan asked.

"You can stay, Stefan," Katherine told him, taking a drink from the bag. "You don't need to go. If you don't bring up my freak-out downstairs, you can stay. I'm not feeling particularly chatty, though."

"Fair enough," Stefan said, giving Katherine the remainder of the blood-bag he'd been drinking from.

"Where's your girlfriend?" Katherine asked, picking up a hair elastic from the dresser next to her bed.

"Selena asked her to go sit with them in the kitchen," Stefan said, chuckling a little when Katherine cursed at the elastic for breaking before she could tie her hair up with it.

"Could you grab me another elastic? I've got more in the washroom."

"Thanks," Katherine said, successfully tying up her hair with the second elastic Stefan brought.

Katherine hardly ever wore her hair in a ponytail and it made Stefan remember something that he had forgotten about.

"Do I look that bad?" Katherine asked, laughing.

"Huh?" Stefan asked.

"I said do I look bad right now?"

"No, why?" Stefan asked, confused a little.

"I don't know. You just got a weird look on your face."

"You never really wear your hair up, and it just made me think of something."

"And what's that, Stefan?" she asked.

"Never mind, it's okay. I know you don't really want to talk," he said.

"You've got me curious now, love. Spit it out," Katherine told him.

"You know that I got taken by the vampires from the tomb, right?"

"Yeah," Katherine replied, unable to mask the anger in her voice when she thought about that particular day.

"That night, when I was back home, I thought I saw you through the window. It was only for a split second, but I thought I had seen your face. I remember thinking that I had to have been seeing things. I remember telling myself that it couldn't have been you, but I guess now, it actually _could_ have been.

"Your hair was up in a ponytail and seeing your hair up again now just brought that back," Stefan said. "Were you actually in Mystic Falls that day?"

"I guess you did see me after all," Katherine said, laughing a little.

"You were here?" he asked her again.

"I was," she replied. "I didn't want you to see me, but I thought that you might have. I guess you did. I stood by a second or two too long. I got out of here pretty quick after that, though."

"Why were you here?" Stefan asked her.

"Why does it matter?" she asked back.

"I don't know. It just does," Stefan said, looking her in the eye.

"You," Katherine told him.

"Me?"

"Yeah, you, Stefan," Katherine said.

"What do you mean?"

"Mason and I were in bed in some hotel a couple towns away, and all of a sudden, out of nowhere this feeling of complete dread just came over me. For a second there, I had even felt this stabbing pain in my chest. This horrible feeling washed over me, and I don't know how exactly I knew, but I knew something bad was happening to you.

"I had to make sure you were okay. I jumped out of bed, much to Mason's displeasure, threw on the first articles of clothing I could find and got to Mystic Falls as fast as I could. The first place I checked was here. You weren't here, neither was Damon.

"I sped across town in a panic trying to find you, and luckily for me it didn't take too long before I spotted some faces I remembered from 1864. I found two dumb vampires from back in the day. They were laughing. I heard them say your name. I staked one of them right away, got some information from the other one and then staked him, too.

"Before I killed him, he said you had gotten out of the place they had been holding you at. I left his body and the other one's in the woods and came back here, hoping you had come back, so I could see for myself that you were okay. I was relieved. You were fine. I saw you, and then I left. And that's all there is to that little story, Stefan."

Stefan looked at her for a moment, absorbing the information. He was silent for a moment and Katherine tried to figure out what he was thinking.

Stefan gave her a small smile when he spoke next. "Thank you, Katherine."

"For what?" she asked him.

"Take your pick," Stefan said, chuckling. "What you just told me is one of the things. It seems like there are quite a few things that I should thank you for."

Katherine rolled her eyes. "Yeah, whatever," she said, trying not to smile.

Stefan just grinned at her.

"Oh yeah, and by the way, in regards to your earlier question-"

"What question?" she asked.

"You asked me if you looked bad. The answer was no, still is. And I just thought I'd tell you that I seriously doubt you've _ever _ looked bad a day in your life, Katherine."

"Thanking me and complimenting me, this can only mean one thing. You need something from me. What do you want, Stefan?" Katherine asked, smirking.

"Nothing. I swear," he laughed.

"Okay," Katherine said, still amused.

"I'm serious," Stefan insisted.

"Okay," Katherine said again, nodding. "Since we're already ignoring my desire for little to no conversation, there's something I should probably tell you. It's actually been on my mind for awhile. I've been trying to decide if it's something I need to say. It doesn't make any difference to anything in my eyes, but it could be information you might want to know."

"And what's that?" Stefan asked her.

"I'm not sure why this wasn't forced out of my mouth when Elijah made me tell you my story in the tomb, but I guess it's probably something you should know since we're supposed to be friends now, and so Elijah and Klaus can't somehow try to use it against me later on."

Stefan looked at her, curious.

"I was engaged to Klaus," Katherine said.

Stefan's jaw dropped.

"I wish you could see your face right now," Katherine said, laughing at Stefan's expression.

"You were with him? You two were actually together? Did you love him?" Stefan asked, not liking the new information at all. He hated Klaus for what he planned on coming to town to do, and he couldn't stand the thought that Katherine could have had real feelings for someone like that.

"I don't really know why you would care about that," Katherine said, making sure to keep the grin off her face.

"Why _wouldn't _I care?" Stefan responded.

"Other than when you and I used to be together, my love life really isn't any of your business, Stefan," Katherine said, secretly loving Stefan's reaction, even if she wasn't quite sure what he was thinking.

Stefan looked serious and slightly annoyed.

"Oh come on. Did you actually ask me if I loved Klaus? Are you nuts? I thought I'd already explained me and love to you, Stefan. Remember that compulsion bullshit from Elijah when I was in the tomb? I was never in love with Klaus. I was still too fucked up to even really think about any feelings I might have had, or anything ever coming of them. All that mattered to me in the time I spent with Klaus and Elijah was getting back to my kid. Saying yes to his proposal was about making it easier for me to get back to my daughter. Obviously I never told him that, though.

"Klaus wanted to use me for the sacrifice ritual, so he had to get me to believe he cared, but looking back now, I can see that not every interaction was something fake. He was pretty much always a nice guy, but I can see so perfectly clear all of the fakeness now. Even though I know he was acting, there were genuine moments of sweetness. There were moments when he wasn't acting."

"Do you think in some freaky way he loved you, even though he planned on sacrificing you?" Stefan asked.

"_Me_, no. But he loved someone, and I'm almost 100% sure that she was a Petrova. The woman that me and your precious Elena are the doppelgangers of, to be more specific."

"Wow," Stefan said. "How can you be so sure?"

"Klaus is a good-looking man, Stefan. A lot of women had their eyes on him, but his eyes were only ever on me. The thing is, while his eyes were always on me, he wasn't really looking at me in those moments of genuine sweetness. He was looking beyond me or through me.

"This face, this body," Katherine said, pointing at herself, "is why his eyes were always on me, but not the actual me. I think he'd look at me and go to some private place in his mind and he'd see her. I know what it looks like when a guy's in love with me, and Klaus wasn't… He was in love with a Petrova, you'd think that somehow that would mean something to him, you know like that he wouldn't try to kill off members of her direct bloodline. He's a sick bastard, that's all that's really important to know… So anyway, there you have it, Stefan. I think I'm all talked out, love."

"Okay, I'll leave you alone, now. You can have your peace and quiet," Stefan said.

"Until it's time for you, me and the TV later on," Katherine said, grinning.

"That's right. You, me and Terminator: The Sarah Connor Chronicles."

"I told you there was something you'd be interested in watching in that giant heap of TV shows I bought."

"It sounded interesting, so I hope it will be. I hope it's good and we don't end up wasting away a bunch of hours of our life."

"It can't be any worse than a lot of the crap that's currently on television," Katherine said.

"That's true. You're right about that," Stefan agreed.

"Of course I'm right. I'm always right," Katherine said, grinning.

o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o

"Forbes, for God's sake, I know you want some sort of chocolate, I saw you eyeing the candy counter, so just tell them which one you want," Tyler said, laughing.

"You already paid for the movie tickets and popcorn. Don't worry about it. I don't need anything else. Thanks, though," Caroline said.

"You're so stubborn," Tyler said, still laughing.

"I'm not being stubborn, I just don't want any chocolate."

Tyler turned back to the girl at the cash. "I'll take one of each kind of chocolate you've got there."

"Tyler-"

"I told you this was going to be on me. I want you to have whatever you want, so here, take the chocolate and just forget about it," Tyler said, handing the chocolate to Caroline.

"Okay, thanks," Caroline said, finally giving in, laughing a little bit too.

It only took about five seconds for her laugh to turn into a groan.

"What's wrong?" Tyler asked.

"Remember Bonnie telling you that there's someone who works here with an epically huge crush on me? Well that guy over there is who she's talking about. I don't want him to see me. He's so annoying, Ty," Caroline said, moving so that she was behind Tyler. "Be my hero and walk in front of me so that you can block me from view and save me from having to converse with him. He's such a headache."

"So Bonnie wasn't kidding about you hiding to avoid talking to this guy, after all," Tyler said, trying not to laugh.

"Nope," Caroline said. "I will pay you when we leave here if you will just stay in front of me and block me from his sight. I don't need a headache from him."

"No," Tyler said, trying to keep a straight face, just wanting to see what her reaction would be.

"What?" Caroline said, practically hissing. "What do you mean, _no? _ Some friend you are."

Tyler let out the laugh he was holding in. "I just wanted to see the look on your face. Don't worry, I don't need any money, Forbes. I'll be your hero for free."

"Jackass," Caroline said, chuckling. "Thanks."

o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o

"Salvatore, is this gonna be like our fabulous trip to that wonderful little place called Mortontown?" Bonnie asked in a sarcastic tone as her eyes scanned their surroundings.

"I don't think so, but then again, Bennett, I'm not psychic."

"So you don't owe anyone any favours here? You don't foresee us getting attacked by the family of a twelve year old witch with a crush on you?"

"I don't think I owe anyone here a favour. I think it's safe to say that you and I aren't going to need to fight off anyone," Damon said, rolling his eyes.

"Good," Bonnie said. "So where the hell did you bring me? And why are we here?"

"I went to your house to see you, so that I wouldn't do something stupid after seeing Stefan and Elena looking all cozy again. I waited around for you to wake up and while I was waiting I decided I wanted to get the hell out of town for a bit. I decided to stick around instead of just heading out on my own because you're pretty fun to annoy. When I woke you up and we got in the car, I still didn't know where we were gonna go.

"Your stomach started grumbling, which made me remember that you probably haven't eaten anything today in the midst of all the fun with that douche at your school and your mom, and then coming over and doing that illusion to conceal Katherine so she could go out and kick some ass. A hungry you gave us at least some sort of destination.

"Hungry witchy meant finding a place with food, and then I remembered this place with the hot waitress and actually pretty decent food. That's how we ended up here. This place is called Mia's."

"My stomach wasn't grumbling," Bonnie said.

"Oh yes it was, Bon-Bon. It was actually even more like screaming rather than grumbling," Damon said, grinning.

Bonnie rolled her eyes. "Whatever."

"You're human, little witch. Your body needs food. You need to remember to feed yourself," Damon teased.

"Really? I never knew I needed to eat food. Thanks for telling me," Bonnie said, sarcastically.

Damon just grinned some more.

"When I got back to my house after leaving yours, I was tired and hungry. Tired won out over hungry, though. I wanted to sleep more than anything," Bonnie said, sarcastic tone gone, and yawning.

"You can sleep later. Now's the time to stuff your face. The burgers here are good, even _I _like them. You pick something to eat while I scan the little crowd here for the hottie waitress."

"And what are you gonna do if you see her?" Bonnie asked, laughing.

"Get her to come to our table, do some flirting and get her number. She gave me her number last time, but I lost it."

"Keep your flirting at a level that won't make me puke, please and thanks. That's my only request," Bonnie said.

"Since you asked so nicely, I'll try to accommodate the request," Damon said, still grinning.

o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o

_Being kissed awake by Stefan Salvatore was definitely the best way for someone to be woken up. If Elena had to be woken out of her sleep, the only way she wasn't going to be grumpy about it was if Stefan was the one doing the waking._

_According to Stefan it was almost dawn. It was early, but he asked her to go with him, and honestly there wasn't much that he'd ask of her that she wouldn't do._

_She got out of bed and took hold of his hand and didn't let go until they reached their destination, and even then it was only for a few seconds._

_He had brought her to the site of the fair. They were standing in front of the Ferris wheel. She asked him what they were doing there, worried that they would end up getting caught for being somewhere they shouldn't be._

_Stefan informed her that he compelled the guard to go take a break so that he could kiss her at the very top of the Ferris wheel._

_She let out a tiny, sad laugh. She had the sweetest boyfriend, she really did. She wanted someone to try to find a better boyfriend than Stefan- they wouldn't be able to. He was the best, and he was hers._

_As sweet and wonderful as his gesture and intentions were, there was trouble brewing in town, and they really shouldn't be indulging in something as unimportant in the grand scheme of things as her desire to be kissed at the top of the Ferris wheel._

"_Stefan-"_

_She tried to speak, but Stefan knew what she was going to say and he had something to tell her, too. He knew she was going to tell him that now wasn't the time for something like this, not with all that was happening._

_He told her that they had to take moments like the one they were just having, here at the fair grounds. He told her that he came back to Mystic Falls to start a life with her._

_Elena's heart did a dance inside her body. She loved those words. They were beautiful words._

_Stefan said they couldn't forget to live life, and then he put his hand on her face, filling Elena with the feeling, that at least for the next couple minutes, everything would be okay._

_She put her hand over his, smiled, and nodded, believing him._

_She asked him how they were going to get to the top of the Ferris Wheel and he told her that she'd just have to hold on tight._

_He put his arms around her, and she put her arms around him, and within the blink of an eye, they were both sitting at the top of the Ferris wheel._

_She was filled with joy and laughter._

_She looked happy, Stefan saw, and he was relieved about that. He just wanted to see a smile on her face._

_Elena saw him staring at her with that smile on his face. "What?" she asked him._

"_It's just so nice to see you laugh," he told her._

_She loved him. Elena loved him so much. One of the sweetest things was just to see him being happy that he had made her happy._

_He made her feel extremely loved, and she couldn't thank him enough for it. She looked for the words she wanted to say, but pushed them aside and just decided on a kiss. People didn't always need words._

"_It's not going to get any easier, is it?" Elena asked after the kiss broke, bringing herself back to everything that was going on in their lives._

"_No, it's not," he said honestly, shaking his head._

"_But that's later today, and the days after that," Elena said, smiling again._

_She was going to enjoy this bit of time with him here, while things were calm and happy._

"_Exactly," Stefan said, returning the smile. "We're here now- just you and me, and everything is perfect for the next little while."_

"_I like perfect," Elena said, putting her head on his shoulder._

"_You _are _perfect," he responded, kissing the top of her head._

"Elena!"

Elena shook her head and brought herself back to the present. "What?" she said.

She had completely zoned out while Alaric and Isobel were talking. She went to a happy place in her mind- with Stefan.

"What do you think?" both Isobel and Alaric asked her.

"Not gonna lie, I don't know what you two were just talking about," Elena admitted.

"Who should Selena stay with?"

"Uh-"

"She can't stay with Isobel," Alaric, said, before Elena could get a word out. "Isobel's not good around people. I don't think she could handle having Selena. She can't have Selena live with her."

"She's not staying with Ric. He doesn't know how to take care of a child, and I'm not gonna have Jenna go over there and play mommy to my kid," Isobel said immediately.

Elena took a deep breath and rolled her eyes.

She was glad that Selena had left the room and didn't have to see Ric and Isobel being immature.

"Well, there was a letter in Selena's backpack, and neither of you were mentioned in it at all. The only name of any family member of hers was mine. It would make sense if she stayed with me," Elena said after a moment's pause to think.

"You're only seventeen, Elena."

"And you live with Jenna."

Elena shook her head, getting tired of Isobel and Alaric's voices.

"I think I'm done in here with you two. Find a choice you can both agree on. I'm getting a headache. I'm gonna go sit with my sister."

Elena got up and walked out of the kitchen.

She went into the living room expecting to find Selena with Stefan, but she didn't.

"Where's Selena?" Elena asked.

"Upstairs with Katherine. I brought her up," Stefan said, chuckling. "She sat here for a few minutes and then turned to me and asked me if she could go see Katherine, looking completely adorable. I couldn't say no even though I know Katherine just wanted to relax."

"That little girl is going to have us all wrapped around her little finger," Elena said, laughing.

"So, what's going on in the kitchen?" Stefan asked.

"I zoned out of the conversation for awhile, but when I was paying attention again, they were asking me who Selena should stay with. Isobel doesn't want Selena to live with Ric and vice versa for him. They're still arguing it out. They gave me a headache so I left. I don't really think Selena should live with either of them. I told them that it would make sense if she stayed with me. I know I live with Jenna, but I'd take care of her. I think it would have been a good idea."

"I think you'd do a good job with Selena. I'm surprised that none of them seem worried about anything, though," Stefan said.

"What do you mean?"

"I would think that with Selena being Isobel's little 'mini me', and everyone who is a threat knowing that Isobel is part of Katherine's bloodline- they would want to keep Selena out of sight, at least until all this craziness with the sacrifice is over with. Elijah told Katherine that they were going to end the Petrova bloodline once and for all. Just like you and Isobel, Selena's a Petrova. The safest place for your sister is probably where she already is- here. I don't think anyone knows that she's here."

"You'd let my sister stay here?" Elena asked, smiling.

"Sure," Stefan said. "I guess technically we should ask Damon since he lives here, too, but I can't see him saying no. She's _your _sister after all," Stefan said, trying not to get angry thinking about Damon's feelings for Elena. "I don't think he'd deny you anything, so I'm sure his answer is yes. I don't think there's even really a need to ask."

"That's really sweet. Thank you," Elena said, catching the change in Stefan's tone when he mentioned Damon's name.

"Ultimately it's gonna be up to your mom to decide where Selena stays," Stefan said.

"Ric's got no say in it?"

"Katherine's probably going to side with Isobel," Stefan said.

"What does Katherine have to do with anything?" Elena asked.

"A hell of a lot," Stefan told her.

"Despite what happened before, I can guarantee that if Ric tries to take Selena or do something that Isobel isn't okay with, Ric won't be getting out of this house. Katherine wouldn't let him," Stefan said knowingly.

Elena sighed and nodded.

Elena wanted to move the topic away from anything having to do with Katherine at the moment.

"You know what I was thinking?" Elena said.

"What?"

"It's really weird that Richard called and asked me to the dance."

"Why is it weird? He didn't know we were back together. He probably didn't think there was any harm in asking," Stefan told her.

"You and I don't really have anything to do with it being weird," Elena said. "It's weird that he asked _me_ because I know for a fact that he likes Caroline. He's had a crush on her since we were fourteen. You can go ask anyone in our year at school. Richard's got a thing for Caroline," Elena said.

"Maybe he gave up on that crush," Stefan said. "Tyler is around a lot, lately. Maybe he thinks Tyler and Caroline are together."

"Even if he did give up on his crush on Caroline, it doesn't make any sense for him to ask me to the dance," Elena said.

"Why?" Stefan asked.

"Richard is part of a little trio at school. You know how it's me Care and Bonnie? Well, as you know, there's a guy equivalent to us. A guy trio. Richard, Dave and Sam. Richard likes Caroline. Dave likes me. Sam likes Bonnie. Richard wouldn't be asking the girl one of his best buddies is crushing on to go to the dance with him. If anyone out of those three guys were to ask me to the dance, it would be Dave. I know it's probably going to sound weird, but I think something is going on, Stefan."

"Something like what?"

"Maybe it sounds weird, but maybe Klaus or Elijah is trying to get more information on our little group. You know, like maybe Richard got compelled. Maybe the goal was for Klaus and Elijah to have someone else get close with us and report back to them."

"That's not weird. I can practically guarantee that Elijah was responsible. Klaus probably made him a tiny bit paranoid about if everyone's actually as clueless as you're all pretending to be. I wouldn't worry about this, though. I'm pretty sure Elijah will just leave it alone now, you know, since he came here and put on a lovely little show for the boys. He'll be thinking all is fine. He could have even just been trying to get some sort of real confirmation that the two of you were back together," Katherine said, coming down the stairs holding a sleeping Selena.

"She fell asleep?" Stefan asked Katherine, looking at Selena.

"Are you surprised?" Katherine asked him, laughing. "She's had a really long and crazy day and then you put her down on my bed and told her she could lie down with me. Of course she fell asleep."

"Katherine, would you be okay with it if Selena stayed here?" Elena asked.

Katherine closed her eyes and sighed. "Why?" she asked.

She was already annoyed, but kept herself in check. She wasn't annoyed with Selena or even Elena at the moment. The annoyance came in regards to Isobel and Alaric and what Katherine was assuming.

"If you don't want her here, that's fine. I just assumed you wouldn't mind because Selena's already built some kind of attachment to you," Elena said quickly.

"I didn't say I don't want her here. She's one of the very few people I give a shit about. Don't get dramatic on me. I don't have any patience for that shit… It's not up to me, anyway, though. This is Stefan and Damon's house. I'm just asking you why Selena would hypothetically be staying here." Katherine said.

Elena was trying to think about how to word the answer, but Katherine didn't have a ton of patience.

"I'm asking you if your mother and Alaric are being losers and trying to pass off their responsibility to their kid on to someone else with some sort of excuse of not being ready for this."

"Oh okay," Elena said. "No it's not that. Ric and Isobel couldn't seem to agree on who Selena should stay with, that's all. That's why I was wondering if you would care if she stayed here. Isobel doesn't want her to stay with Ric, and Ric doesn't want her to stay with Isobel."

Katherine rolled her eyes. "That kid is more mature than the both of them."

"I'm not going to argue with you on that one," Elena said. "I agree."

Isobel and Alaric walked out of the kitchen and into the living room, still arguing, but quietly.

Both sets of eyes fell on Katherine holding Selena.

A grin formed on Isobel's face.

"I want Selena to stay here," Isobel said to Ric. "You don't want her living with me and I don't want her living with you. I want her to be here, then."

"You want a little girl to live in this place with three vampires?" Alaric said, looking at her like she was crazy.

"When you think about it, this is probably the safest place for her, Ric," Isobel said. "Nothing bad could happen to her here. Katherine's here."

"It's not a good idea," Alaric said.

"Yes it is. The safest place for any kid of mine is with Katherine. Nothing's gonna happen to her with Katherine around. Selena is staying here. That's all there is to it," Isobel said firmly.

"You're not going to ask Katherine or Stefan if this is all okay with them?" Elena asked her mother.

"Oh yeah," Isobel mumbled. "Forgot that part."

"It's fine with me," Stefan said.

"I know that you're pissed off at me right now, but I really want Selena to be here with you. Do me another favour, please. I know you've already done a lot of those for me, but I really want you to say yes."

"You're right. I _am _pissed off, but Selena can stay here," Katherine said.

Isobel looked relieved.

"If this is gonna happen, though, you are gonna come here _every _single day to spend time with her," Katherine said seriously. "I will protect her and I will care about her and I will play with her and make her smile, but you are going to be her mother. Do you understand me? That's your job, even if you don't really know how to do it."

Isobel took a breath and nodded.

"She's not staying here. She's my kid, too," Alaric said to Isobel.

Katherine spoke before Isobel could answer. "Isobel wants her here, so _yes, _Selena is staying here. No one said anything about her not being your kid, too. Come see her whenever you want. Just stay out of my way and don't annoy the shit out of me, and I don't see why there should be any problems."

Alaric was going to say something, but Katherine cut him off.

"I'm not exactly sure what you were gonna say, but I thought I should just throw this out there for you- I won't let you take Selena anywhere. Isobel wants her here and that's where she's gonna stay. If you try to take her- well, let's just say that's something you really don't want to do. I'll let you imagine what the consequences might be," Katherine said, giving Alaric a wink as she passed Selena over to him.

"Now seriously, everyone leave me the hell alone for awhile," Katherine said, walking back upstairs.

o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o

"Hello."

"Hey Bonnie, it's Luka. How are you?"

"I'm okay. How are you? Is everything okay? You still managing to tolerate being in Elijah's presence and acting like you don't hate his guts?" Bonnie asked.

"I could be better, but then again, things could be worse. Yeah, I'm still managing to keep up the charade. Are you busy right now?"

"I'm just out eating, but we can talk. What's up?" Bonnie asked.

"Remember how you told me to learn as much as I could about our magic and vampires, and specifically Originals?"

"Yeah," Bonnie said. "Did you find anything interesting?"

"I haven't found anything about Original vampires that we didn't already know, but I did find out something about witches and vampires and werewolves."

"What did you find out?" Bonnie asked, as Damon sat right across from her, using his vampire hearing to listen to what Luka was saying.

"There are three ways for a vampire to survive a bite from a werewolf," Luka said.

Damon's eyes opened a bit wider, thinking about Rose and how he had to stake her.

Bonnie gave him a sympathetic look.

"Are you serious, Luka?"

"Absolutely. I've been doing a lot of reading, Bonnie."

"What are the three ways?" Bonnie asked.

"One involves a witch. Another involves a vampire. And the other involves a werewolf," Luka said.

Bonnie got up and motioned for Damon to follow her outside. She did not want to be talking about witches, werewolves and vampires inside where a bunch of people were eating.

"You're saying that witches, vampires and other werewolves can cure a bite from a werewolf?" Bonnie asked, keeping her voice down.

"Yes I am," he answered.

"Tell me everything, Luka."


End file.
